ATI Radeon HD 2X00 (2400,2600,2900) series owners thread [Text View] - Page 24

daMaster

06-18-08, 07:18 PM

As Arfster mentioned this can be done using the "color" brightness/contrast settings (not AVIVO). With my DVI HDTV, to get just about everything outputting 16-235 (including the desktop):

Set CCC "color" brightness/contrast to +31/73%, add UseBT601CSC=1 and for most software leave the AVIVO brightness/contrast set to default.

The only software I have that ignores this is PowerDVD Ultra (running in Vista). To make PDVD Ultra output 16-235, change the PDVD advanced video brightness/contrast to +19/-5 (when playing an HD-DVD or Blu-ray).

One final oddity is I found I needed to use an ATI HDMI dongle and an HDMI to DVI cable, instead of simply using a DVI to DVI cable.

Ok, I'm new to HTPCs and can't figure out for the life of me what settings to use to get the right video levels. Here's my setup:
- Windows Vista, with EVR as the renderer
- Radeon HD2600, Catalyst 8.3
- Rear projection CRT connected via component
- Desktop resolution = 1920x1080 @30Hz (1080i)
- All of my viewing is HD, MPEG2 or H264. I use MediaPortal as my front-end.

Am I correct in assuming my TV requires video levels (16-235)?

Here are my software settings:
- In CCC, I have contrast/brightness settings set to "Use application settings"
- I have UseBT601CSC=1 set in the registry
- For HD MPEG2 (720p/1080i TV broadcasts), I use Cyberlink PowerDVD 7 decoder -> EVR
- For HD H264 (720p/1080p x264 MKVs), I use CoreAVC YV12 (input & output levels set to "Autodetect") -> ffdshow RGB32HQ, YCbCr = BT.709, Contrast = Standard (16-235) -> EVR

I'm not 100% certain I'm doing things right and I haven't yet learned how to verify either. Would the above configuration give me 16-235 video levels for all my HD viewing? I'm really not interested in SD.

Thanks in advance!

arfster

06-18-08, 08:45 PM

Here are my software settings:
- In CCC, I have contrast/brightness settings set to "Use application settings"
- I have UseBT601CSC=1 set in the registry

Sets it to expand all SD

- For HD MPEG2 (720p/1080i TV broadcasts), I use Cyberlink PowerDVD 7 decoder -> EVR

HD = expanded by default

- For HD H264 (720p/1080p x264 MKVs), I use CoreAVC YV12 (input & output levels set to "Autodetect") -> ffdshow RGB32HQ, YCbCr = BT.709, Contrast = Standard (16-235) -> EVR

This is bypassing driver-based expansion (by doing the RGB conversion in ffdshow), but by setting standard you are actually expanding in ffdshow instead! Note the setting refers to input luma range, while it always outputs to 0-255. Thus if you tell it incoming is standard aka 16-235, it expands it, but if you set full range it maps 0-255 to 0-255, ie no change (this wording confuses the hell out of everyone).

Thus, you have everything set to expand to pc levels (0-255)

If you want 16-235, which almost certainly your TV willl, you have to:

a) set CCC video brightness to 16, contrast to 86
b) set ffdshow RGB32 output to full range.

Luar Azul

06-19-08, 02:24 AM

I have just tried 8.6 in windows XP and hardware acceleration is now berserk. videos encoded in x264 or VC1 that worked perfectly with 8.4 and 8.5 in MPC-HC now display corruption (green screens, image dissolving into big pixels). The exdeus patch makes no difference. Tried different things, nothing seems to work. Went back to 8.5, everything works fine again!! I still have the original Sapphire bios, could that be the problem?

Graphics Card Manufacturer Powered by ATI
Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO
Device ID 94C3
Vendor 1002

Subsystem ID E370
Subsystem Vendor ID 174B

BIOS Version 010.051.000.002
BIOS Part Number 113-B16905-X04
BIOS Date 2007/05/17

leeperry

06-19-08, 06:57 AM

Rew452

06-19-08, 07:12 AM

Installed Cat 8.6 last night seemed like a real improvement:
Fast sync on my Mits PJ
CCC loads very fast

But when I tried to play a BD disc in PDVD 7 or 8 if I got video at all it flashed in and out.
Tried WinDVD 9 played better but still flashed in and out.
Did not matter if AnydvdHD was enabled or not.

Anyone else having HD playback problems??? HdDVD seems to be alright
Cat 8.5 worked but took time to sync on pj as most other builds have been

Should also mention the same is true on my HP2207 main monitor and WinXp SP3

Thanks
Rew

P5E motherboard
E8400 3Ghz @3.8
Visiontek 3850 Pcie
4gb ram
WinXP SP3

mule

06-19-08, 08:38 AM

After installing 8.6 the playback of bluray and hd-dvd with powerdvd stopped working: No Video, just audio for a few seconds after start and afterwards the whole system crashes?!

Never had something similar with <= 8.5:eek:

TheMule!

arfster

06-19-08, 11:02 AM

Mr.M

06-19-08, 12:07 PM

Did a quick test of 8.6 (Vista32, Sapphire 2600xt). No problems the XP guys above are having, and as in the beta they've fixed dualmonitor switching issues of 8.4/8.5.

Still need usebt601csc=1 for SD levels, and vforceuvdvc1/vforceuvdh264=1 for dualmonitor acceleration.

So just to confirm, all hardware video acceleration is working as it should be in Vista?

I'm currently on the 8.3 driver without problems. I tend to be reluctant to upgrade, but I need the Bioshock fix in the newest drivers.

leeperry

06-19-08, 12:45 PM

I've installed the 8.6 and I really appreciate the fact that it doesn't reset the LUT each time I open CCC....this was very annoying!

and from what I vaguely remember, CCC.exe will shutdown if something else needs its memory "location" or something like that ?

maybe that's why it suicides itself sometimes :(

to get back on the BIOS updates...Sapphire has given me an update with the "ATi ATOMBIOS" v10.73 for my PCI-E HD2600, and it seems that the latest versions available for the 3XXX is 10.75 :
http://www.mvktech.net/component/option,com_joomlaboard/Itemid,34/func,showcat/catid,12/

the newer, the better :D

miami_sin

06-19-08, 02:51 PM

Nice job on pinning this down guys - I always figured it was something noncompliant about x264. However, this really shouldn't be tripping up the decoder/card, as they support h264, not just Bluray/HDDVD h264.

Anyone who wants to complain to cyberlink about the x264 acceleration issue, be sure to mention the reference frames >4 issue. Makes it far more likely their support staff will pass it on (because they won't understand it, and secondly because concrete info like that has more credibility).

Finally found that specific info in the big, big thread! :)
Thanks for that!

Now checked some backup files I have... And it's true, all above "Num ref frames = 4" doesn't work H/W accelerated!

The one film I have below this value opens and starts H/W accelated perfectly but is bucking very much (CPU at 10%, GPU at 12%).

Latest RegTweaks 1.4 are installed,
CCC is 8.5,
PDVD H.264 Codec version is 2.1.0828
Playing in MPC HC

Maybe anyone could help?

Here the film's info:

[ About file ]

Name: Film.1080p.HDDVDRip.x264.mkv
Date: 12/03/2008 07:14:58
Size: 11,273,022,570 bytes (10750.792 MB)

[ Generic infos ]

Play duration: 02:14:04 (8044.425 s)
Container type: matroska
Creation time: 12/03/2008 07:05:06 UTC
Number of streams: 3
Type of stream nr. 1: video (V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC)
Type of stream nr. 2: audio (A_AC3)
Type of stream nr. 3: audio (A_AC3)
Audio streams: 2
Muxing Application: libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1
Writing Application: mkvmerge v2.2.0 ('Turn It On Again') built on Mar 4 2008 12:58:26

[ Relevant data ]

Resolution: 1920 x 800
Width: multiple of 32
Height: multiple of 32

[ Video track ]

Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Resolution: 1920 x 800
Frame aspect ratio: 12:5 = 2.4
Pixel aspect ratio: 1:1 = 1
Display aspect ratio: 12:5 = 2.4
Framerate: 23.975986 fps

[ Audio track nr. 1 ]

Codec ID: A_AC3
Channels (container): 6
Sample rate: 48000 Hz
Mode: 3 front, 2 rear, 1 LFE

[ Audio track nr. 2 ]

Codec ID: A_AC3
Channels (container): 6
Sample rate: 48000 Hz
Mode: 3 front, 2 rear, 1 LFE

[ About H.264 encoding ]

User data: x264
User data: core 58
User data: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec
User data: Copyleft 2003-2008
User data: http://www.videolan.org/x264.html
User data: cabac=1
User data: ref=3
User data: deblock=1:-2:-1
User data: analyse=0x3:0x113
User data: me=umh
User data: subme=6
User data: me-prepass=0
User data: brdo=0
User data: mixed_ref=0
User data: me_range=12
User data: chroma_me=1
User data: trellis=1
User data: 8x8dct=1
User data: cqm=0
User data: deadzone=21,11
User data: chroma_qp_offset=0
User data: threads=6
User data: nr=0
User data: decimate=1
User data: mbaff=0
User data: bframes=16
User data: b_pyramid=1
User data: b_adapt=1
User data: b_bias=0
User data: direct=3
User data: wpredb=1
User data: bime=0
User data: keyint=250
User data: keyint_min=25
User data: scenecut=40(pre)
User data: rc=2pass
User data: bitrate=9927
User data: ratetol=1.0
User data: rceq='blurCplx^(1-qComp)'
User data: qcomp=1.00
User data: qpmin=10
User data: qpmax=51
User data: qpstep=4
User data: cplxblur=20.0
User data: qblur=0.5
User data: ip_ratio=1.40
User data: pb_ratio=1.30
User data: aq=1:0.5:13.0
SPS id: 0
Profile: High@L5.1
Num ref frames: 3
Chroma format idc: YUV 4:2:0
PPS id: 0 (SPS: 0)
Entropy coding type: CABAC
Weighted prediction: No
Weighted bipred idc: B slices - implicit weighted prediction
8x8dct: Yes

[ Profile compliancy ]

Profile to check: MTK PAL 6000
Resolution: 1920 x 800 > 720 x 576
Framerate: 23.975986 <> 25
Warning: If you need a more complete report, then click on "DRF analysis"

This report was created by AVInaptic (18-11-2007) on 19 giu 2008, h 20:37:58

HT Slider

06-19-08, 03:11 PM

Ok, I'm new to HTPCs and can't figure out for the life of me what settings to use to get the right video levels. Here's my setup:
- Windows Vista, with EVR as the renderer
- Radeon HD2600, Catalyst 8.3
- Rear projection CRT connected via component
- Desktop resolution = 1920x1080 @30Hz (1080i)
- All of my viewing is HD, MPEG2 or H264. I use MediaPortal as my front-end.

Am I correct in assuming my TV requires video levels (16-235)?

Unless your TV has a specific setting you can change to enable "full range RGB" (0-255), it does require video levels.

Since you are connected using component, I believe the ATI video card automatically converts everything into 16-235.

Here are my software settings:
- In CCC, I have contrast/brightness settings set to "Use application settings"
- I have UseBT601CSC=1 set in the registry
- For HD MPEG2 (720p/1080i TV broadcasts), I use Cyberlink PowerDVD 7 decoder -> EVR
- For HD H264 (720p/1080p x264 MKVs), I use CoreAVC YV12 (input & output levels set to "Autodetect") -> ffdshow RGB32HQ, YCbCr = BT.709, Contrast = Standard (16-235) -> EVR

I'm not 100% certain I'm doing things right and I haven't yet learned how to verify either. Would the above configuration give me 16-235 video levels for all my HD viewing? I'm really not interested in SD.

Thanks in advance!

I recommend you download some calibration samples and use them to confirm as well as calibrate your display. I haven't played with FFDshow enough to help you with it (Arfster has though).

The calibration sources I use I listed in this earlier post:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13939785#post13939785

Here are some key points that will hopefully help:

TVs, video sources, and typical PC video files use grey levels between 16-235 to represent the black to white range.
PCs and PC monitors normally operate using a 0-255 range.
Since PCs need video to display video correctly, during video processing it is typical to expand video from 16-235 into 0-255 before sending it to the desktop.
Although PCs normally expand video, there is a bug in ATI drivers where SD content isn't expanded unless "UseBT601CSC=1" is set in the registry.
There are two ways to get video to display correctly on a TV:

at final output, "compress" everything from 0-255 into 16-235 (this makes everything look correct including desktop, pictures, games, but it means video is expanded and compressed plus BTB and WTW is lost). If you want to play video games, use the PC as a PC, and look at pictures, this is the best option since everything looks correct, including video.
don't expand video before sending it to the desktop (this means the video maintains BTB and WTW and potentially has less processing; but it means that the desktop, pictures, and video games will not look right). If you are a videophile or your HTPC is dedicated to video output only, this is the best option.

By default, when using an HDMI to HDMI connection to an HDTV or when using component video, #1 is done automatically.
The CCC "color" brightness and contrast settings affect the final output and can be used to perform #1 (if not done automatically). Typically "color" brightness/contrast needs to be set to (approximately) +31/73% to convert 0-255 into 16-235.
The CCC AVIVO brightness and contrast settings affect the video expansion and can be used to perform #2. Typically "AVIVO" brightness/contrast needs to be set to +16/86% to send video non-expanded (16-235).
If everything is done by the video card in hardware, ATI uses 10-bit color accuracy and in theory there should be no loss by using option #1. On the other hand 3rd party codecs, like ffdshow, only send 8-bit color to the renderer so some argue there may be a very minor loss in accuracy if #1 is used. Note that this has been an ongoing issue of debate and what I have stated is my best understanding/interpretation after my research - but it still isn't necessarily correct.
If you use option #1, a screen capture of video will produce a picture using the 0-255 range.
If you use option #2, a screen capture of video will produce a picture using the 16-235 range.

Personally I use option #1 and Arfster uses option #2.

What I don't know for certain is if component out is already compressed into 16-235. If it is, all you need is to do is add "UseBT601CSC=1" and to then check calibration (and fine tune your TV). If component doesn't automatically compress into 16-235, you then need to choose option 1 or option 2 above (and then fine tune your TV).

red5goahead

06-19-08, 06:03 PM

mhhh seems a lot of problem with Cyberlink h264/avc1 (PDVD8) and dxva under 8.6 new drivers. With my ati 3850 and mpc-hc the ati drivers crash often with blue screen of death, sometimes ccc reset drivers. I tried to open some reference file mkv x264 whit level@4.1 (not problem with 8.5) and some ts file in h264 ripped from Rai HD Dtt (not problem with 8.5 with PDVD8)
No problem with mpc video decoder (dvxa) for these mkv play. Also ArcSoft h264 work fine.
Cyberlink SP/DVD (PDVD8) continue work fine also with 8.6.

edit: Windows Vista SP1.

StinDaWg

06-20-08, 12:34 AM

I just hooked up my new HP slimline with the HD 2400 and I cannot get audio through hdmi. I bought the ati hdmi adapter off of newegg and I have been downloading updated drivers for everything, searching google and trying various methods but nothing works. Hoping someone can help.
Again, anyone able to get sound from HDMI using Vista?

karrih

06-20-08, 11:06 AM

dauger

06-20-08, 12:08 PM

So I also tried 8.6 drivers in my XP setup and Bluray playback busted totally, all I get is black picture with sound, at least with PDVD Ultra 7.3 build 4102. Back to 8.5 it is for me. Of course PDVD 4102 doesn't have working 1080 HA for XP, but I can live with 720p for a while.

I just found this out the hard way as well. I spent the past couple evenings rebuilding my HTPC several times trying to figure out why I could no longer play BluRay. D'oh.

Luar Azul

06-20-08, 12:41 PM

yeah it's always a good idea to ask Sapphire for BIOS updates.

for some reason, they don't offer them on their website :(

I sent them an email again a few days ago, and they've sent me an even newer BIOS :D

ATi Bios version 010.073.000.004.0000000, the one they sent me 6 months ago was 010.060.000.000.0000000

maybe my randomly corrupted mouse pointer will be fixed........obviously the pointer hardware acceleration has always been fishy up to now...

Thanks! :) I already sent them a mail, let's see what they will say. It seems that the problems are only found in XP. I don't have Vista to try it on, but I tried the 8.6 drivers with EVR in XP and the result (corruption, green screens, etc) was pretty much the same.

topcaser

06-20-08, 12:56 PM

So I also tried 8.6 drivers in my XP setup and Bluray playback busted totally, all I get is black picture with sound, at least with PDVD Ultra 7.3 build 4102. Back to 8.5 it is for me. Of course PDVD 4102 doesn't have working 1080 HA for XP, but I can live with 720p for a while.

This is really strange: IMO It depends on your system. I had problems with deinterlacing with 8.5 whereas some guys have spoken from the best version ever. The same here with 8.6. Some write, that they have no problems whereas other have black/Bluescreen problems. I think this is very randomly what else you have installed on the system.

daMaster

06-20-08, 09:31 PM

This is bypassing driver-based expansion (by doing the RGB conversion in ffdshow), but by setting standard you are actually expanding in ffdshow instead! Note the setting refers to input luma range, while it always outputs to 0-255. Thus if you tell it incoming is standard aka 16-235, it expands it, but if you set full range it maps 0-255 to 0-255, ie no change (this wording confuses the hell out of everyone).

Thus, you have everything set to expand to pc levels (0-255)

If you want 16-235, which almost certainly your TV willl, you have to:
a) set CCC video brightness to 16, contrast to 86
b) set ffdshow RGB32 output to full range.

You were right, of course! I was very confused by the terms "expanded" and "contracted", etc. and only after I started taking screenshots and verifying levels in PhotoShop did I truly really understand the difference between PC levels and video levels and what I needed to do achieve video levels out to my TV.

When I have "Use application settings" enabled in CCC, then it has no effect on the ffdshow RGB32HQ output, as that video path's levels seem to get controlled entirely by the ffdshow Contrast = Standard vs. Full Range setting. So I set it to Full Range as you recommended and screenshots verified in PhotoShop confirm that black is RGB: 16,16,16 and white is RGB: 235,235,235.

As for the Cyberlink video path for HD MPEG2, that is indeed affected by the CCC "Use application settings" checkbox. When "Use application settings" is enabled, I get PC levels out of Cyberlink.

I haven't verified any SD content, since I rarely, if ever, watch anything SD these days. HD was the reason I built this HTPC :D

Thanks for your very informative post! I'm now comforted by the fact that when I calibrate my grayscale with the EyeOne I'll have the right levels coming out of the HTPC to the TV.

daMaster

06-20-08, 10:10 PM

Sets it to expand all SD

HD = expanded by default

This is bypassing driver-based expansion (by doing the RGB conversion in ffdshow), but by setting standard you are actually expanding in ffdshow instead! Note the setting refers to input luma range, while it always outputs to 0-255. Thus if you tell it incoming is standard aka 16-235, it expands it, but if you set full range it maps 0-255 to 0-255, ie no change (this wording confuses the hell out of everyone).

Thus, you have everything set to expand to pc levels (0-255)

If you want 16-235, which almost certainly your TV willl, you have to:

a) set CCC video brightness to 16, contrast to 86
b) set ffdshow RGB32 output to full range.

Unless your TV has a specific setting you can change to enable "full range RGB" (0-255), it does require video levels.

Since you are connected using component, I believe the ATI video card automatically converts everything into 16-235.

I recommend you download some calibration samples and use them to confirm as well as calibrate your display. I haven't played with FFDshow enough to help you with it (Arfster has though).

The calibration sources I use I listed in this earlier post:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13939785#post13939785

Here are some key points that will hopefully help:

TVs, video sources, and typical PC video files use grey levels between 16-235 to represent the black to white range.
PCs and PC monitors normally operate using a 0-255 range.
Since PCs need video to display video correctly, during video processing it is typical to expand video from 16-235 into 0-255 before sending it to the desktop.
Although PCs normally expand video, there is a bug in ATI drivers where SD content isn't expanded unless "UseBT601CSC=1" is set in the registry.
There are two ways to get video to display correctly on a TV:

at final output, "compress" everything from 0-255 into 16-235 (this makes everything look correct including desktop, pictures, games, but it means video is expanded and compressed plus BTB and WTW is lost). If you want to play video games, use the PC as a PC, and look at pictures, this is the best option since everything looks correct, including video.
don't expand video before sending it to the desktop (this means the video maintains BTB and WTW and potentially has less processing; but it means that the desktop, pictures, and video games will not look right). If you are a videophile or your HTPC is dedicated to video output only, this is the best option.

By default, when using an HDMI to HDMI connection to an HDTV or when using component video, #1 is done automatically.
The CCC "color" brightness and contrast settings affect the final output and can be used to perform #1 (if not done automatically). Typically "color" brightness/contrast needs to be set to (approximately) +31/73% to convert 0-255 into 16-235.
The CCC AVIVO brightness and contrast settings affect the video expansion and can be used to perform #2. Typically "AVIVO" brightness/contrast needs to be set to +16/86% to send video non-expanded (16-235).
If everything is done by the video card in hardware, ATI uses 10-bit color accuracy and in theory there should be no loss by using option #1. On the other hand 3rd party codecs, like ffdshow, only send 8-bit color to the renderer so some argue there may be a very minor loss in accuracy if #1 is used. Note that this has been an ongoing issue of debate and what I have stated is my best understanding/interpretation after my research - but it still isn't necessarily correct.
If you use option #1, a screen capture of video will produce a picture using the 0-255 range.
If you use option #2, a screen capture of video will produce a picture using the 16-235 range.

Personally I use option #1 and Arfster uses option #2.

What I don't know for certain is if component out is already compressed into 16-235. If it is, all you need is to do is add "UseBT601CSC=1" and to then check calibration (and fine tune your TV). If component doesn't automatically compress into 16-235, you then need to choose option 1 or option 2 above (and then fine tune your TV).

Thanks for the detailed and informative post! I went with option #2 because I really only use my HTPC for video. Mind you, my MediaPortal interface does look awfully dark now, but I can live with it.

karrih

06-21-08, 02:01 AM

This is really strange: IMO It depends on your system. I had problems with deinterlacing with 8.5 whereas some guys have spoken from the best version ever. The same here with 8.6. Some write, that they have no problems whereas other have black/Bluescreen problems. I think this is very randomly what else you have installed on the system.

In my case only Bluray playback with PDVD was affected. HD from cable, both mpeg2 and H264 worked as with 8.5, although I tried them only briefly. Could be somekind of HDCP issue, I guess, even though Cyberlink Bluray Advisor was still okaying setup.

topcaser

06-21-08, 05:02 AM

Hi,

Iam owning a 2600XT and modded the BIOS with the BIOS editor i posted above. All worked properly for a week now.

Now i installed 8.6 (coming from 8.3) and used the common deinstallation process (Win XP) with Driver Cleaner in the safe mode.

During installation of 8.6 a got an error window: No GUID bla found. I clicked OK and the driver seems to be installed correctly - also CCC.

When i open CCC i can found the correct name of the Graphics: 2600XT

Then i wanted to patch the registry - but there is only and video folder there and no subfolders any more.

Do you think, that the modded BIOS caused these problems?

I double checked the HW-ID in Device manager and in the 8.6 config (inf) file.

Installations-File:

"ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT" = ati2mtag_RV630, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9588

Hardware ID in Device manager:
PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9588&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_00

It seems all ok. What do you recommend me?

Install the old 8.3 driver again?
Install 8.6 again?
Flash origianal BIOS?

topcaser

06-21-08, 05:34 AM

Now i deinstalled 8.6 and installed it again (without driver cleaner). And it workes again. Proper installation. I find the keys in the registry again...

Nevertheless: to the deinterlacing quality: I open CCC and go to deinterlacing settings. I adust vector adaptive and unchecked automatic. If i watch to the flag window - just behind the flag (at the wall) i see a trepidation (@english guys: is this the correct word - maybe you say jitter??) just behind the flag at the wall when the flag blows. It is just a second and then it is sharp. This sceanrio repeats when the flag blows again...

equivalent

06-21-08, 08:07 AM

thanks for the info topcaser, yes it is 'jitter'. Trepidation is psychological, it means a kind of fear, e.g 'I approached the dark house with trepidation'.

Rew452

06-21-08, 09:42 AM

I think I saw a fix or at least a work around for this problem; could someone give me the cure???

I have the following:
Asus P5E
E8400 Duo Core 3Ghz @ 3.8Ghz
4Mb Ram
VisionTek HD 3850 512Mb PCIe
Cat 8.5 (Cat 8.6 a bust
WinXp SP3
Mon 1 HP W2207 HDCP compliant
Mon 2 Mits HD4000 PJ HDCP compliant
Using PDVD 7 or 8 Ultra with latest patches

Ok, here is the problem:
If I play any BD disc on mon 1 it all plays fine. But if I extend my display to mon 2, the PJ
the intro video, trailers and menu's don't display any video until the main movie starts; then it plays fine.

Most annoying, what can I do to correct this behavior?? I have seen it from time to time in the past but somehow it would go away but not now.

Thanks for the Help

Rew

topcaser

06-21-08, 09:44 AM

thanks for the info topcaser, yes it is 'jitter'.
Do you have the same?

topcaser

06-21-08, 02:23 PM

Hallo,

here is a short video from CCCs Flag. It is not really good from resolution point of view, but you can see the problem. Who else has this problem?

Klaus_1250

06-23-08, 01:20 PM

... and it seems that the latest versions available for the 3XXX is 10.75 ...

Sapphire have been shipping BIOS 10.77 as of March on 3850's AGP. Not sure what the most recent is (three months later now).

On topic: I have a Sapphire HD3850 AGP, Catalyst 8.6, XP SP3. No real problems, e.g. most things work except:

* DXVA WMV acceleration: Doesn't seem to do anything. In fact, some WMV's have become unplayable in WMP11 (XP SP3).
* ATi MPEG decoder: Works for MPEG2, but not for h264. The video's do play, BUT are in slowmotion (sound is normal). Not sure what is going on, but it plays the video's at less than half speed. The renderer reports it is outputting @200Hz??? Once in a while, the video skips and catches up. Cyberlink using DXVA works a-ok. MPC-HC using DXVA works a-ok too. Looking at my CPU usuage which spikes up, it looks like ATi's own decoder isn't using DXVA :-(

I'm especially confused and annoyed by the latter issue, because I have no clue as to where to look for a solution.

Solved the issue with DXVA acceleration though WMV Powertoy. Had to set Post-Processing features to off. Not sure why though, CPU usage was only 60% (P4 3.2 HT) with PP on. Using either no DXVA or DXVA without PP gives smooth playback. :confused:

leeperry

06-23-08, 01:34 PM

I'm still in contact with Sapphire Tech Support.

He told me "This is a latest release that improved so compatible issue with LCD panels."

so far I didn't get the corrupted mouse pointer problem :)

Richardw322

06-23-08, 07:21 PM

I have a rather strange situation. I installed a Radeon 2400 pro a year ago, it came with 512 meg of ram. A month ago I wanted a bigger card, and I saw a deal for a 2600 pro with 256 meg, and the 64 bit interface. So I bought the card, uninstalled the 2400 drivers (ran drivercleaner AND ccleaner) and installed the new card and gave it a quick look. Looked fine, except the only options for deinterlacing were bob and weave. The 2400 always gave me the 3 adaptive and bob and weave.

I knew the installation had problems, so after a week or 2 I reinstalled Windows, and gave it the 8.6 Catalyst. Still only Bob and Weave. (Did fix the other issues) This is with Windows XP Pro. I am guessing that it's because the card only has 256 meg, does that sound right?

leeperry

06-25-08, 12:54 PM

ok the 10.73 BIOS update for my PCI-E HD2600 completely craps out with Haali's Renderer....back to 10.60 FTW :D

aworks

06-27-08, 01:08 PM

I have:
HP Pavilion m8013w
Athlon 64 X2 4800+ 2.5Ghz
ASUS M2N68-LA motherboard
ONBOARD GeForce 6150se
4GB Ram
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1

I have recently tried to install both of these graphics cards in PCI-E, with the same problems:

Radeon HD 2400
Radeon HD 4850

I get a blank screen on startup of Vista; Safemode shows last driver installed is crcdisk.sys, then it hangs at that in safemode, or black screen in normal. I can hear the OS loading, but no display.

I can remove the graphics card, and it will start up properly.

At first I thought it was my ineffectiveness at disabling the onboard Nvidea
card, but tech support for those cards insist that disabling/uninstalling it
in device manager, and switching primary video adaptor settings in BIOS from onboard to pci-e should be sufficient. I'm still doubting this a bit, since my BIOS doesn't allow to disable the onboard, only switch preference. I'm wondering if the integrated nvidia is conflicting with the radeon cards.

Googling the crcdisk.sys BSOD reveals this was a common problem when vista came out with "incompatible" hardware on a Vista upgrade from XP, and is either a hardware conflict, or conflict between drivers, but I could not find a common solution.

My generalized hunch is that something with vista and the onboard card
doesn't like the new graphics card.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this, or a solution?

topcaser

06-28-08, 05:04 AM

I had also this porblem with black screen (with a 2400XT). Solution was, to connect a S-Video cable to the graphics and to a TV. Install drivers. Connect HDMI or whatever and reboot. The screen is black during boot anyway. Nevertheless, as soon as drivers are loaded, the black screen is gone.

This was only with my LCD-TV LG-LB2R but not (!) with my PC monitor.

Think, it is a resolution bug during boot. BTW: A bought a 2600 XT and this card works properly.

Sunnie

07-02-08, 10:23 PM

Excuse me for just jumping in here. I have been searching this forum regarding a solution for excessive fan noise on my newly purchased PCie VisionTek ATI HD2600XT card. I was wondering if anyone had tried to slow the fan down in RPM to see if it would reduce the noise, but still cool the card? If so, did you use a simple resister, if so, of what value.

karrih

07-03-08, 02:22 AM

red5goahead

07-04-08, 05:00 AM

Catalyst 8.6 same with 8.5. My Asus 3850 is connected to 2 devices:
an Asus 19" lcd monitor by vga and dvi white connector and a plasma Panasonic 37PV60 by hdmi dongle on graphic card side (yellow connector) and on Hdmi-2 input on tv side. Both tv/monitor it's set to 1280x720 resolution. 75 HZ for Asus lcd , 50 or 60 HZ for the plasma.
lcd is the primary monitor , plasma the secondary one.
I use it with Media portal based Htpc.
All work fine. But when I leave the hdmi-2 input to an other one analogic tv or rgb input ad so one the graphic card not ignore that and seems reset itself or launch a reset procedure . the screen become black and blinking for few second also on lcd primary monitor how when the refresh rate profile change. This is annoying and cause some problem when playing multimedia files because the filtergraph and directx procedure are stopped. so if a play a dvd or divx file on hdmi-2 and change the tv input the graphics card seems reset itself and stop the play. This is weard and some catalyst ago this issue was not present. Anyone have this problem?

DracuGol

07-05-08, 08:09 PM

Again, anyone able to get sound from HDMI using Vista?
I've been trying for days to get audio out of HDMI. I am using a Radeon 2600 XT, Vista Ultimate. I have tried several versions of Catalyst, it always detects my Denon 4308CI receiver as DVI instead of HDMI. If I connect the HDMI cable directly to my Sony TV, I have sound. It appears to be some kind of incompatibility between ATI and Denon.

genro

07-07-08, 01:12 AM

Now that the 4850 / 4870 cards are out for a bit, I was wondering if the registry script is applicable to them as well? I would think it would be the same as it was for the 3xxx series?

millerbrad

07-07-08, 07:35 AM

I've been trying for days to get audio out of HDMI. I am using a Radeon 2600 XT, Vista Ultimate. I have tried several versions of Catalyst, it always detects my Denon 4308CI receiver as DVI instead of HDMI. If I connect the HDMI cable directly to my Sony TV, I have sound. It appears to be some kind of incompatibility between ATI and Denon.

Are you trying to do HDMI output from both ports on your 2600XT?

Catalysts 7.8 and up won't let you use dual-HDMI output. Even if you use two of the ATI DVI-to-HDMI dongles, it'll force one of the outputs to DVI mode. If you try the 7.7 Catalysts, it should work in this situation.

DracuGol

07-07-08, 08:04 PM

I am only trying to get audio out of one HDMI port.

Wiggies666

07-08-08, 02:13 PM

Anyone a clue?
When using mpc homecinema with VMR9 I get scrambled image after a short while which looks like a decoding problem (blocked image which hangs at a certain point or turns green). Setting the program to "use default" direct show video renderer seems to make things better only I lack subtitles than...
Currently I am using Catalist 8.6, but also with the latest Omega drivers I have this issue. Switching to manufacturer's drivers solves the problem, but then I have the issue that Powerdvd sometimes crashes reporting I don't have an hdcp compliant graphics adapter..ahrgh....

Maybe overlooked a thread, but couldn't find one similar.

Thnx in advance.

jong1

07-08-08, 02:57 PM

I don't have your exact card. I guess it could be something to do with it being a AGP. However, I would try the following (in order):

1. Make sure you are using the latest public release of MPC-HC and not one of the endless interim builds that are floating around. There is (quite reasonably) no quality control on those and many have broken codecs.
2. Get the Catalyst 8.7 beta. This is what i am using with my 3850 and all is perfect. 8.6 is known to have broken hardware acceleration. Not heard of your problem but it might be related.
3. if you have been playing with Omega drivers now might be the time for a thorough clean uninstall and re-install of ATI drivers using Driver Cleaner or equivalent.

s174955

07-08-08, 03:16 PM

jong1

07-08-08, 03:39 PM

VMR9 working fine here on XP (renderless, fullscreen).

Wiggies666

07-08-08, 04:15 PM

Thanks for your answers guys.
I was indeed already thinking to try Vista, but before that I indeed will try the 8.7 beta after a good cleanup including registry, see what it brings.
Funny thing is, that I had it both with an Asus and MSI card. Might be a general combination error between my pc and the card.
Using the mpc hc latest official version.

sstephen

07-09-08, 06:45 AM

Hi:

I have tried to search this thread for answers, but either I get no hits or so many it's difficult to go through them all, so if this has been answered, please let me know where, and I'll apologize for posting.

hardware first
Sapphire 2400 Pro
ECS mobo using intel 945 chipset (I think, using a different computer for this post)
dual core 3.4G intel
1 G of ram

Can get output on overlay or vmr7/vmr9 without dxva, but on high bit rate h264 drops frames (> 23 Mbps or thereabouts)

ok, so here is the issue.

I'm trying to get dxva to work, with MPC HC. Disabled other codecs, when I look at filters it is the internal ones getting used.

I can get it to output as I mentioned if dxva is off.
If I switch dxva on and play a mkv, I check the vid. filter and see that dxva is switched on, and it has some message about the setting (not the dxva not used message), but I get no video output or sound. I am testing with a moderate bitrate mkv (it would play fine, both vid and audio, with no dxva).
So I'm pretty sure hardware accel. is trying to be used here.
I've tried with overlay and vmr9 renderless. In fact all of them, just to see, but of course with vmr7 dxva says not being used (and MPC HC crashes).

Currently using Catalyst 8.5, and whatever driver came with 8.5 after a downgrade from 8.6. Did the uninstall of 8.6 first.
MPC HC I have tried the latest stable build, .604, I think, and tried a few other MPC HC builds as well, 582, 613, 6xx (higher than 613)

This is in windowed or full screen, makes no difference. The tearing fix is turned off.

I also tried this mkv using powerdvd 7.3 ultra with dxva on, still no video or audio.
Also tried the cyberlink codec and haali media splitter in MPC HC. Will work if dxva is off, but still no sound or audio if turned on.

Can anyone give me other suggestions on what to try?

Thanks

ToughRowToHoe

07-09-08, 01:53 PM

I've been trying for days to get audio out of HDMI. I am using a Radeon 2600 XT, Vista Ultimate. I have tried several versions of Catalyst, it always detects my Denon 4308CI receiver as DVI instead of HDMI. If I connect the HDMI cable directly to my Sony TV, I have sound. It appears to be some kind of incompatibility between ATI and Denon.

I believe I read somewhere that people were having trouble with some HDMI switches because the EDID info wasn't passed through. Perhaps your Denon is doing something similar? You might try running your TV before you switch on the receiver and then finally fire up the computer. I'm wondering if the Denon grabs the EDID info from your TV on start up but doesn't otherwise pass the information through. Another thought is to set it up on your TV and then save the profile. When you bring up the Denon, switch to the saved profile. Good luck.

Wo0zy

07-09-08, 02:28 PM

DracuGol

07-09-08, 08:01 PM

I believe I read somewhere that people were having trouble with some HDMI switches because the EDID info wasn't passed through. Perhaps your Denon is doing something similar? You might try running your TV before you switch on the receiver and then finally fire up the computer. I'm wondering if the Denon grabs the EDID info from your TV on start up but doesn't otherwise pass the information through. Another thought is to set it up on your TV and then save the profile. When you bring up the Denon, switch to the saved profile. Good luck.
IMHO, the Denon receiver should not pass the TV's EDID to the graphic card. If that was the case, then the graphic card would only output stereo sound since the TV only advertises 2 speakers. For some reason the Denon does not advertise itself as a 7.1 channel audio/video device. :-(

DracuGol

07-09-08, 08:01 PM

Make make is your card?

Wo0zy
My card is MSI: http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1236&maincat_no=130&cat2_no=137&cat3_no=172

alecoddlyiv

07-10-08, 06:09 AM

is there any way to avoid a no signal message being delivered to my LCD tv at random intervals when I have had the tv switched off or have been using another source?

The tv is a samsung, the gfx is a 2600 pro and im using driver version 8.2 for vista after reading some but not all of the posts here.

I did setup a hotkey which works occasionally but only when ccc doesnt crash itself which means sometimes having to button the pc in order to get anything back.

thanks

Sunnie

07-11-08, 10:06 PM

I am only trying to get audio out of one HDMI port.

Use the DVI closest to the motherboard.

ToughRowToHoe

07-12-08, 12:02 AM

IMHO, the Denon receiver should not pass the TV's EDID to the graphic card. If that was the case, then the graphic card would only output stereo sound since the TV only advertises 2 speakers. For some reason the Denon does not advertise itself as a 7.1 channel audio/video device. :-(

I can send DD or DTS to my stereo TV. If the Denon doesn't pass on the EDID info, the card won't know what video levels the TV supports. Maybe not?

ToughRowToHoe

07-12-08, 12:03 AM

Use the DVI closest to the motherboard.

I thought that was on the audio faq but it sure wasn't. Thanks.

shurik_1

07-14-08, 03:22 AM

Managed to get 42° GPU temp. watching SD Content by lowering voltage. Coming from 47°.

can you tell what values did you use for frequency and voltage?
thank you

carlo_0000

07-19-08, 11:08 PM

hi

for poeple like me with a cpu what is only SSE (not SSE2)

i found a alternatif

using the codec (filter) of mpchc (media player clasic)

aivable here:

-http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=170561&package_id=264678&release_id=609982

download the mpchc_x86_v1.1.604.0_MPCVideoDec.zip

then unzip
register the filter (with directshow filter manager or other)

open the MPC video decoder (filter setting)

select enable dxva (if it isn't)
and olso don't forget to select H264 / AVC in codec

apply close

load your favorite player or dvb vieuwer select the MPC video decoder

i tested with alt-dvb (ok)
dvbdream (black screen)

http://perso.latribu.com/tribu/jpg/mpc%20video%20decoder.JPG

bjuford

07-20-08, 06:55 PM

Are you using XP?
I also had VMR9 problems with DXVA, but only in fullscreen. Windowed it was working OK.
I switched now to Vista, as you can use DXVA + subs with EVR. This works file.
Prefer XP though.

I second that. Tried everything over a mounth to get DXVA to work flawlessly with my non old AMD 2500+, socket A, AGP HD2400pro on XP. Regardless of numerous driver changes, re-installs, C: formats, It just didn't fly..

Then switches to Vista, and been happy since.

bushmouse

07-21-08, 11:29 PM

I just bought a VisionTek 2600 PRO AGP card for my media center PC. The video playback is great, however I want to use it to pass audio over the HDMI cable along with video. I went into the sounds of control panel and no audio device other than the sound card that is integrated in my PC (AC-97) is listed. I also went into device manager to look for the audio device to no avail. On the package it stated that it had built in 5.1 sound. Please help this is the reason I bought this card; to pass video and sound over one HDMI cable. Thanks.

Dee_NA

07-21-08, 11:44 PM

Does anybody know what issues ATi Cat. 8.7 has by any chance?

doctorcilantro

07-22-08, 10:41 AM

DXVA enabled playback for correctly encoded x264 material works only if VMR9 is used w/o Haali selected as source filter (in J. River MC12) (Haali still shows up in systray however).

EVR simply won't work on XP SP3 for me, with 8.1, 8.6, and 8.7 Catalyst which is what I've tried.

I see a 10% cpu reduction when using the dxva option in Cyberlink x264 decoder over CoreAVC.

DC

daMaster

07-22-08, 02:01 PM

Catalyst 8.7 was released yesterday (07/21). Anybody tried it out yet?

karrih

07-23-08, 02:31 AM

Catalyst 8.7 was released yesterday (07/21). Anybody tried it out yet?

I have been running it for one day in XP, looks ok so far. Changing profiles seems faster, lets hope the reliability has also been improved. Only reg hack I did was my usual setting of DENOISE_DEF to zero and reboot to get rid of the ghosts in SD.

djos

07-23-08, 02:33 AM

Im running 3.7 on Vista and no issues so far. :)

arfster

07-23-08, 05:19 AM

Catalyst 8.7 was released yesterday (07/21). Anybody tried it out yet?

Works OK in Vista. Usual bugs fixed with reghacks, no acceleration with dualmonitors (vforceuvdh264 &vforceuvdvc1=1), and SD not expanding in line with HD (usebt601csc=1).

Joe Hendrix

07-23-08, 01:05 PM

mushbert

07-23-08, 05:07 PM

system: kt400/athlon XP 2700+/1gb ram/audigy2/sapphire 2600xt AGP

software: winXP SP1/VIA chipset drivers v518A/CCCP codec package with MPC as display app/.NET v2.0 SP1/DirectX 9.0c June'08/Catalyst 8.6 AGP hotfix

displays: samsung CRT on analogue output, epson 720p projector on DVI output via HDMI->DVI cable (projector set as primary, desktop res 720p, CRT res 800x600 panning)

I'm having two problems that are preventing me from using this card. First, I often can't even playback SD material encoded in Xvid or h.264 without a horizontal line through the picture in the area with the highest contrast. Changing driver versions seemed to fix it, but eventually I did something (maybe a registry setting?) that broke it again. I've read that the VMR renderers are apt to have tearing problems, but from my experience this doesn't look like a regular tear - it's more like a ~15 pixel high band across the image where the colors and saturation are messed up. Any ideas on this?

Second, the whole reason I got this card was that my machine is starting to show its age and can't properly playback some 720p h.264 files with higher bitrates - so the UVD feature was very attractive. Of course I can't get it working, for MPEG2 or h.264 (haven't tried WMV or VC1 as I don't have anything to test it with). This is the dealbreaker - if this isn't going to work for h.264 I'm getting rid of the card.

What I've tried:

PowerDVD 8.0.1730's h.264 decoder. with DVXA set to enabled, video plays but does not use hardware acceleration.. I've read that for DXVA this decoder requires a CPU that supports SSE2 extensions - the Athlon XP series doesn't, so that may be why(?). Weird side note, when playing 720p video this decoder displays it at 720x480 only, regardless of being fullscreen/windowed.

MPC-HC decoder (standalone filter and in MPC-HC app): same result. DXVA set to enabled, VMR9 selected, VMR Overlay mode switched on (for soft-coded subtitles). Filter status shows DXVA not in use.

ATI AVIVO decoder: I had high hopes for this one, but the version included in the 8.6 drivers will not load to play h.264. I've set it as preferred in MPC's external filter settings, and blocked all other decoders. MPC simply reports that it can't find a decoder and plays the file audio only. I guess I'll have to find an older one to try.

Questions:
1. What Catalyst version should I be using? And where can I get it? I've had a really hard time finding older releases.

2. The AGP Hotfix version - is it necessary? I did have the problem where the drivers would not detect my card, but the AGP hotfix drivers didn't either. After I reinstalled the VIA chipset drivers and ran DriverCleaner the hotfix package worked and I don't think I tried the regular release again.

3. Registry tweaks - is there anything that needs to be turned on? I'm guessing the ForceUVD entries should be set to 1, but I'm pretty sure I've tried that.

4. Has anyone with an AGP system and older processor (Athlon XP/Sempron/Opteron) that doesn't support SSE2 gotten hardware decoding working?

GMan4911

07-23-08, 06:02 PM

system: kt400/athlon XP 2700+/1gb ram/audigy2/sapphire 2600xt AGP

software: winXP SP1/VIA chipset drivers v518A/CCCP codec package with MPC as display app/Catalyst 8.6 AGP hotfix

displays: samsung CRT on analogue output, epson 720p projector on DVI output via HDMI->DVI cable (projector set as primary, desktop res 720p, CRT res 800x600 panning)

.
.
.

Questions:
1. What Catalyst version should I be using? And where can I get it? I've had a really hard time finding older releases.

2. The AGP Hotfix version - is it necessary? I did have the problem where the drivers would not detect my card, but the AGP hotfix drivers didn't either. After I reinstalled the VIA chipset drivers and ran DriverCleaner the hotfix package worked and I don't think I tried the regular release again.

3. Registry tweaks - is there anything that needs to be turned on? I'm guessing the ForceUVD entries should be set to 1, but I'm pretty sure I've tried that.

4. Has anyone with an AGP system and older processor (Athlon XP/Sempron/Opteron) that doesn't support SSE2 gotten hardware decoding working?

I'm running on a slightly slower system than yours - Athlon XP Mobile 2600+, not overclocked. My video card is the HD 3650 AGP with no registry tweaks.

I installed the CCC 8.6 AGP hotfix and it works fine for me. I've been running the OEM version of PowerDVD, V7.3 with the latest updates and it decodes H.264 just fine, although the CPU utilization averages around 50% with peaks into the 80s. I'm not sure if that's good or bad but it works with no stuttering. My TV is 720p.

There is a utility called DXVA Checker (http://bluesky23.hp.infoseek.co.jp/DXVAChecker_1700.zip) that you can run to see if DXVA is available. When I run it, it shows DXVA1 is available but not DXVA2, which is only available on Vista. You need VC++ 2005 SP1 redistributables and .NET 2.0 installed to run the utility.

mushbert

07-23-08, 06:22 PM

Hmm, well that's a little encouraging (would be more so if I had gone for the 3650 instead). Is your CPU a Throughbred or Barton core (XP-M 2600+ came in both)? I don't think anything before the Athlon 64 series supported the SSE2 instruction set, so hopefully that's not the problem with PowerDVD. I tried that app you linked to, it won't run. Gives me an error: "The application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem". I've only ever seen that message with a Wii homebrew app that needed .Net 3.0, but from the readme it should only need .net 2.0, which I have. What service pack are you running GMan4911?

GMan4911

07-23-08, 07:48 PM

If you already have .NET 2.0, then you still need VC++ 2005 SP1 Redistributables (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=200B2FD9-AE1A-4A14-984D-389C36F85647&displaylang=en)

My CPU is the Barton core. I don't think any of the Socket-A CPUs supports SSE2.

Funny thing is, PDVD reports DXVA is not in use. Not sure why that is.

GMan4911

07-23-08, 08:08 PM

The Catalyst 8.7 AGP hotfix (http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=31625) was posted yesterday. I haven't tried it yet, perhaps it fixes the DXVA problem.

mushbert

07-23-08, 09:16 PM

I know I've never installed that (VC++ redist) myself, but it sounds very familiar... Doesn't some form of that come with the Catalyst drivers? I'll try it and see if it'll let me run the DXVA checker at least.

edit: Ok, so the checker works now, and reports the following:

NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
ModeMPEG2_A: DXVA1, NV12, 720x480 / 1280x720 / 1920x1080
ModeMPEG2_B: DXVA1, NV12, 720x480 / 1280x720 / 1920x1080
ModeMPEG2_C: DXVA1, NV12, 720x480 / 1280x720 / 1920x1080
ModeMPEG2_D: DXVA1, NV12, 720x480 / 1280x720 / 1920x1080
ModeWMV9_MoComp: DXVA1, NV12, -
ModeWMV9_PostProc: DXVA1, NV12, -
1720AC81-9D1B-4F63-9A37-4A88483D0B87: DXVA1, NV12, Unknown

So unless that last entry is h.264, it looks like it's not there. My machine is dualboot though, and I don't have PureVideo or PowerDVD installed on this system. In case you're wondering the 2600xt is sitting in its box right now because this windows install is messed up and bluescreens when catalyst is installed, and I needed it working. All my testing is done on the secondary install, which has barely anything in it.

I thought DXVA was actually working with the PureVideo drivers, but didn't do a whole lot. Is the VC++ package something I would have needed to use hardware acceleration? Or just to run the check program? Does the NV12 indicate that it will ONLY use HW accel if ffdshow is set to output NV12?

Luar Azul

07-24-08, 10:03 AM

Tried the new ATI 8.7 drivers with my Sapphire 2400pro in Windows XP and exdeus (http://exdeus.home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/) tweaks.

Result: same problems that appeared with 8.6. - Video stutters and there is corruption with MPC-HC in VMR9 mode with DXVA enabled. I went back to version 8.5 and everything is perfect once again.

A curious note: with 8.7 drivers, the corruption disappears when the "jitter curve" is displayed (ctrl+J). Obviously it is not practical to see movies in this way. The corruption also disappears in "Overlay mode", although there is still the occasional stutter.

It seems incredible to me how drivers can actually get worse over time! Well... that's just the way things go!

BTW: Great Thanks to the MPC-HC team!! Bravo!! :)

EDIT: after all I had to go back to 8.4 ATI drivers. Version 8.5 sometimes had problems (image would stall some times with dxva). Now with 8.4 everything's back to perfect! :)

GMan4911

07-24-08, 11:25 AM

Joe Hendrix

07-24-08, 12:42 PM

I had a problem with version 8.3, where if I turned off my TV (hooked to my HTPC) while listening to music, and then turned it back on later, it would come back on with a different resolution. I would then have to go back into Catalyst Control Panel and reset my custom resolution.

Any chance that the new version has fixed this bug?

Not trying to hijack the thread, but since I am an owner of an 2600 series card, I thought someone on this thread might have an answer for me.

mushbert

07-24-08, 05:14 PM

Luar Azul

07-24-08, 05:49 PM

From Luar Azul's post up there, I'm guessing I should maybe try Cat8.4 when I try again, I've already found 8.5, but have yet to come across any good (read: complete) archive of catalyst drivers. Anyone have a link?

You can find the old drivers at Ati's site. After selectiing your OS, card, etc, go to the bottom of the page where the most recent driver is. At the bottom you will find a link "Previous Drivers and Software" or, if your OS is XP, simply go to:

http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/radeonxprevious-xp.html

good luck :)

hlkc

07-24-08, 11:57 PM

Can someone let me know that below tweaks will apply ATI 4850 GC?

http://exdeus.home.comcast.net/ati-hd2x00/

mushbert

07-25-08, 01:04 AM

@ Luar Azul: Yeah, but not the AGP Hotfixes ;)

hlkc

07-25-08, 01:15 AM

Yeah, but not the AGP Hotfixes ;)

Are you referring to my question? if so, what do u mean by AGP hotfixes?

mushbert

07-25-08, 03:03 AM

Sorry hlkc, something must have delayed the posting of my message
(like me forgetting to click Submit) and it ended up in the wrong place. That said, I'm new to ATI cards myself so I don't think I can help you with the question you have.

Bluemuse101

07-25-08, 03:13 PM

RockySpieler

07-25-08, 05:11 PM

Hi All,

Forgive my intrusion on this thread, but I am a Radeon owner(new one) and I need to glean some info from teh other owners out there...Namely, has anyone that reads this post ever experienced Crazy midi problems. Perhaps related to the sample rate or the stable clock rate the Radeon operates? It's a questions I've been trying to answer for three weeks, and gone through much pain troubleshooting(4 reinstalls), so I'm in pain here folks. I'm trying just to get my Midi working again on this new rebuild. If anyone has any info or some symptom rings a bell please(pretty please) email me at RandyKoren@gmail.com. I need other troubleshooting avenues to proceed. It would be much appreciated.

Abit ip35 pro
Pentium Q6600
SATA drives
Ati Radeon 2600xt
Aardvark 24/96 Soundcard

OK, Back to your regularly scheduled program....

-Bluemuse101

Do you want to use the HDMI audio output of the 2600xt?

If not, and you just want to use your Aardvark, then try un-installing all the ATI card's drivers. When you re-start windows, you will only have 800x600 resolution, but you could test your midi audio.

Are you XP or Vista?

I think the earlier ATI drivers (maybe up to 8.4) did not include HDMI audio, it is possible that the HDMI audio is affecting the existing sound card.

bjuford

07-27-08, 05:56 PM

I just reinstalled my HTPC from scratch when updating to MP RC2. Problem is that the new 8.7 AGP hotfix from ATI just gives me troubles when it comes to DXVA. Can some kind soul guide me to find the AGP hotfix 8.5 again. I've searched ATI's site but with no success. It just keep directing me to the new one all the time. I've also tried installing the regular 8.5 driver but that won't fly even when editing the ini-files for AGP hack-install.

:(:(
regards B

Edit: I found it :) available here: www.opendrivers.com
They have a link to back up server that still host it.

Bluemuse101

07-27-08, 06:04 PM

Ah yes, the HDMI Issue..that was two of the four installs.....I actually installed the soundcard first, before any other drivers, just to see if it was indeed my soundcard or some conflicting driver. I had the same issues on a new install with no drivers. It's truly perplexing. The aardvark is running at 65% pci bus efficiency, the normal is 98-99%. Sometimes it can't get a sample rate at all, gives this crazy 1.#INFO khz message in the Measured Sample Rate Box, but if I boot a few times it gets a sample rate.Today I woke up and all of my Audio inputs are consistently distorted. It's degrading.

As far as ATI drivers, I disabled the Hdmi part of the Radeon. It is seeming to lay comfortably in device manager, but I don't really know...

Thanks, though.....Anybody else?

-Bluemuse101

mushbert

07-27-08, 07:40 PM

Edit: I found it :) available here: www.opendrivers.com
They have a link to back up server that still host it.

Thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for. I didn't see any older than 8.4, but it's still great... I can't believe that with the problems their AGP drivers are having they're removing the old ones that actually work for some people...
I just shelled out for a 4870, I really hope I don't regret it.

Dee_NA

07-28-08, 02:45 AM

Don't forget, omegadrivers will be coming out with a new set here real soon... just to give some of you a heads up and all. it will however, will be interesting to see what he came up with this time around.

dauger

08-01-08, 04:55 AM

I've been banging my head against the wall now for a few hours. The 8.4 drivers worked for me. I upgraded to the new 8.7 drivers and I had the seemingly typical problem with the new drivers where HDDVD and BluRay playback is choppy/screwed up. I uninstalled the 8.7s and reinstalled the 8.4s, but now 8.4 is choppy with HDDVD/BluRay.

What did I do wrong?

karrih

08-01-08, 06:09 AM

What did I do wrong?

Perhaps you were using some reg hacks? Try to apply exdeuses script if you want to get the reg hacks.

Strayshot

08-01-08, 09:37 AM

rhysevans

08-01-08, 11:34 AM

Are the exdeus tweaks recomended on HD 3XXX Cards? Or have the latest Catalyst drivers sorted out all the issues now?

dauger

08-01-08, 01:08 PM

Did you use drivercleaner between the uninstall of the 8.7 and reinstall of the 8.4?

Yup. I uninstalled and booted into safe mode. I ran driver cleaner pro 1.5 (free version from Guru3D), and then for extra fun I ran the guru3D driver sweeper. rebooted into normal mode and installed 8.4

It would seem that power DVD isn't using hardware acceleration as the cpu usage goes up into the 90% area.

I'm using a 2600XT PCIE

originalsnuffy

08-01-08, 02:31 PM

Hi all....

I have been having trouble with my old ATI AIW 9600, AGP. I am having trouble getting the drivers to work with the built in tuner and with my HDTV card (Dvico Tvix).

So I am thinking that maybe I should just pop in a new AGP card into the machine. I know that AGP 2400 cards have had issues...but I was wondering just how bad they would be for my application, which is to play back video from the Dvico card and other lighter video processing.

If you would not recommend the AGP version for this...what AGP cards would you suggest I evaluate? Cost is an issue here...the PC involved is 7 years old and new the end of its useful life.

dauger

08-01-08, 03:33 PM

Ok, the plot thickens:

All VC1 HDDVDs and BluRay DVDs play just fine. PowerDVD 7 lists DXVA as on when playing these discs.

All MPG-4 AVC discs do not work. PowerDVD 7 lists DXVA as off. I have just tried appyling the reg hacks to both the 0000 and 0001 displays to no avail, even after a reboot. I did not add the dual display HWUVD_ForceMPEG2 entry as I am not running dual displays.

I'm absolutely positive that at least one of my MPG-4 AVC discs played properly before I monkeyed around with the drivers.

Does anyone else have any ideas before I do a system wipe?

dauger

08-01-08, 04:23 PM

I found out what the problem was. I had PowerDVD 7 retail and the Arcsoft Total Theater demo installed at the same time. This must cause a problem with mpg4 avc playback. Since I hadn't tried a mpg4 disc in awhile I didn't realize that I broke it. Doing the driver update was a red herring because that caused me to retest my system.

butters2006

08-11-08, 12:52 PM

Another bump. Done because of database outage. We wouldn't want to lose 195+ pages of ATI 2600 goodness...

flhthemi

08-11-08, 02:37 PM

Hi, Robert !

Yes, I get that message, too.

But I realised it with 8.2 first, since before I had 8.1 beta from 3dguru...

I have 2600pro passive, Vista32, PCI-E

Best regards

maier2505

I discovered yesterday, if you set your taskbar in windows to auto hide it will make this error appear at boot of Vista. If your taskbar is set to auto hide try setting it up to NOT auto hide and see if it helps.

BTW - I also found this mmloaddrv.exe error would display after

1) I made the change to auto hide the taskbar
2) I could LOG OFF then LOG ON instead of rebooting to make the error occur

So untic auto hide then log off and log on if the error is gone then you should be able to reboot with no error as well.

We all need to slam ATI with this problem so they will fix the CCC in its next revision. They seem to be dragging their feet to me.

daMaster

08-12-08, 12:03 PM

HTSlider, can you explain how you determined the brightness/contrast settings for PowerDVD HD/BD to get video levels: The only software I have that ignores this is PowerDVD Ultra (running in Vista). To make PDVD Ultra output 16-235, change the PDVD advanced video brightness/contrast to +19/-5 (when playing an HD-DVD or Blu-ray).

I used those values, and it seems pretty dead-on, just wanted to know how you determined that.

speedfrk

08-12-08, 03:21 PM

daMaster

08-12-08, 03:23 PM

Quick question- I can buy either a 2600XT or a 3450 for about the same price. Is there any significant differences between the 2 that should sway me? It is just for HTPC so 3d gaming performance doesn't matter. Thanks!

I have a 2600Pro and a 3470, both passive. The 2600Pro performs better but it's also more expensive and dissipates a lot more heat. The 3470 does the job and dissipates a lot less heat.

Go with the 3470. It can be had online from NCIX.com for about $55 CDN taxes in. Not sure about US prices.

arfster

08-12-08, 03:53 PM

34xx cards have less deinterlacing power than 26xx. Doesn't matter if all you play is films, of course.

HT Slider

08-12-08, 04:01 PM

HTSlider, can you explain how you determined the brightness/contrast settings for PowerDVD HD/BD to get video levels:

I used those values, and it seems pretty dead-on, just wanted to know how you determined that.

I used the Bluray and HD-DVD calibration discs mentioned earlier in this thread (downloadable from avsforums.com). My HDTV clips everything beyond 16-235 so it is easy to calibrate the output for this range.

Note that you only need to make this adjustment if your PC is trying to output RGB 0-255 and your HDTV requires RGB 16-235. This typically happens if your HDTV has a DVI port on it (no HDMI) or if you are driving your HDTV's HDMI port without using an ATI HDMI dongle (ie using a DVI to HDMI cable instead).

If your HDTV has an HDMI port on it and you use the ATI HDMI dongle and an HDMI cable, your video card will automatically output YCbCr, which already uses 16-235 grey levels (default PowerDVD settings of 0/0 work properly).

LankyJ

08-12-08, 04:08 PM

Hello, sorry, new here, but I'm trying to put together an HTPC and I'd just like to know if what I've got is going to work for me, or is it all a lost cause?

An older (June 2005) HP A1130N w/ Windows MCE
AMD Athlon 64 3500+
3 gb RAM
Diamond Radeon HD 2400Pro 256mb
LG Super Mlulti Blue combo Blu Ray / HD DVD Rom Drive
47" 1080p JVC LCD TV

I don't have my DVI->HDMI Cable yet so I haven't been able to try any 1080p, but 720p seems to work fine, I'm no videophile, but the picture looks nice on my JVC. However, I noticed that PowerDVD is still using about 40 - 55% of my CPU when playing HD DVD's. Am I not getting any hardware acceleration here, or is that kind of CPU usage to be expected?

If that's the case with 720p, I guess I've got no shot at all with working 1080p without buying a new case and starting from scratch, right?

Thanks for any help!

John...

mushbert

08-13-08, 02:23 AM

My guess is you're not getting acceleration, since most people tout getting as low as ~15% cpu usage. That being said I'm not sure how strong your particular processor is, on mine (XP2700+) usage is about twice what yours is. So I don't think I have any chance of playing 1080p stuff, but you might.

Also: I've been going to ask this for a while, but would someone (or several someones) be willing to contribute a few short clips from known DXVA-compatible videos? It would go a long way in troubleshooting if we were certain that what we're testing with should work. H.264 is my primary concern, but I'm sure others would appreciate WMV and VC1 samples as well.

Joe Hendrix

08-14-08, 01:33 PM

@Joe Hendrix, I didn't experience anything like that with my projector. You didn't state how you're wired, but I know that in 8.6 in the list tree on the left, you get three items for each display, info, setup, something else. On I think the second one, is a list of default supported resolutions for that device, and you can add/remove/disable the ones you don't want - for me, I removed everything but 720p 60Hz (standard). Not sure if 8.3 has that capability but I think that's what you'd want.

I have my 2600XT wired to my Pioneer 5050 via an DVI to HDMI connection.

There was an update through the Vista Update specifically for the 2600 so I went ahead and installed it, hoping that this update wouldn't cause the problem I've been having with the newer drivers which cause my monitor to change it's display setting back to 1080x1920 @ 30hz Interlaced (not sure of the exact dimensions, but it does switch my desktop back to 30hz interlaced) any time I turn off the TV and then turn it back on. Anyway, this new update showed the exact same problem as all of the other updates have done.

I'll rephrase my original post:

I will sometimes turn the TV off while listening to music through my HTPC via VMC. When I turn the TV back on, VMC no longer takes up the entire screen, and when I check out my settings in CCC, they have been reset to 1920x1280 with 30i.

The setting that I prefer has been 1280x768 with 60p, and then I'll do an underscan correction to fill the entire screen. This seems to be the ATI recommended method of filling the screen, rather than doing to custom setting.

I did try to remove all other display settings from CCC, but CCC only allowed me to delete a couple of the settings (must've been custom settings I had previously set on my own). It won't allow me to delete any of the factory settings. Maybe I'm in the wrong section to disable these other settings?

I've tried to set it to "force" the setting that I prefer, and it gave me a large warning about doing so. Yet, whenever I test it out by turning the TV off, and then back on again, it resets itself to 1080x1920 @ 30hz Interlaced. It's weird, because CCC recognizes the plasma correctly, so it should also know that it's a 720p plasma, so if anything it should go back to a default of 720p.

I've tried searching on the ATI forums, but they all seemed to be centered around gaming this, and gaming that.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

HT Slider

08-14-08, 02:04 PM

genro

08-14-08, 02:22 PM

Regulator

08-14-08, 03:12 PM

I have a HUGE problem with my HD2600XT and wonder if anyone might be able to help me out.

I've been using the HD2600XT in my HTPC (Intel P35 chipset) for about a year and it always worked very well. After replacing it with the 3870 (that works flawlessly) I decided to install the HD2600XT in my study PC.

For some reason the HD2600XT won't work at all in this PC and it seems to conflict the the on-board X200 graphics. My Nvidia 6800 on the other hand works flawlessly in this PC.

Here is what happens with the HD2600XT installed and the BIOS configured to initialize the PCIe card first:
- The system is incredibly slow and the CPU is always pegged at 100% for any process that tries to display on the screen (this is all the time, regardless of what driver, or no driver is installed). Background processes or tasks that are minimized drop down to reasonable CPU utilization levels. Also, very strangely, the CPU fan does not run at high speed, even though the task manager shows the CPU is running at 100%.
- If I install Catalyst 8.7, it installs the driver for the X200 for some reason and upon reboot the driver fails to load.
- If I let Windows Update automatically install a driver, the driver for the HD2600XT does install and there are no errors. The problem is the system is still so incredibly slow it is totally unusable (15 minutes to boot and virtually unresponsive). The CPU is always pegged at 100% for any task that is attempting to display anything (the larger the window, the higher the CPU utilization). Even task manager runs at 100% CPU when close to full screen and at around 50% when run at 1/4 screen.
- If I manually install the 8.7 driver using device manager, it does install the HD2600XT driver, but again the system is unusable.

When I reinstall the Nvidia 6800, the system immediately works flawlessly; even before I install the driver.

I've tried cleaning out the registry using Driver Cleaner and Driver Sweeper and it hasn't helped at all.

From what I can tell, the ATI HD2600XT is somehow conflicting with the X200 on-board. Note the problem is also much more severe than simply having no driver installed. It is almost like the PCIe bus itself is running at something like 1/50th of its correct speed when the HD2600XT is installed. Since this is a Gateway PC, there is a Gateway BIOS with very little control over anything.

Anyone seen anything like this before?

I have the EXACT same problem! I've tried everything I can think of. I even got it to boot normally once after installing xp drivers (my OS is vista). when it booted i tried installing the updated ati drivers with CCC and it's slow as hell again. I used driver cleaner and got rid of everything but still doesnt work and tried to reinstall using the same method but still doesnt work.

I originally had a 6600gt that worked flawlessly, then upgraded to the 8500gt (with HDMI out and spdif header) but kept getting that damn "Display Driver nvlddmkm stopped responding, has successfully recovered" error which doesnt have a fix as of yet. Google it--it's a very prevalent problem that has been in existence for over a year now with no resolution. Also, the system works well in xp with the 8500gt but the spdif connection to the video card really doesnt work that well.

After the 8500gt fiasco I popped in an old 7600gt I had lying around, and it worked well. Although I started to notice the picture in vmc looked grainy and I couldnt get any of the overscan features to work well in comparison to the 8500gt. I reinstalled the drivers and nothing would fix it or allow me to adjust the 3d settings. Then i read that the card wanted a 400W psu and mine was only 270W.

So now I've just ordered a new 400W PSU and am going to try out the 2600 once I'm able to install it. Will let you know how it works out.

tetsuo55

08-14-08, 04:08 PM

I installed the 8.8 catalyst beta and now h264 files will start stuttering/breaking up

seems like the problems with dxva keep increasing

Regulator

08-14-08, 10:00 PM

well i tried the xpress 200 chipset with the hd2600xt on xp and still nothing. so it is a hardware conflict. i looked in the bios and disabled anything i could for the igp, but still have the same problem.

if you google: xpress 200 2600xt vista
google (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=xpress+200+2600xt+vista&btnG=Search)

you get results from a guy that posted on multiple forums (including AVS (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=950209)) with the same problem and never got a solution. He even tried a more powerful PSU.

I tried for hours today to figure out how i got it to work that ONE time after using drivercleaner to remove ATI. Now that I think about it, after I used drivercleaner and installed the drivers for the hd2600xt, my file transfers within the primary harddrive slowed to a crawl. Probably because drivercleaner removed the chipset drivers. Damn.

Funny how these two ati products are incompatible but this chipset and my 7600gt are now working fine. D'oh!

mushbert

08-15-08, 12:59 AM

I have my 2600XT wired to my Pioneer 5050 via an DVI to HDMI connection.

Same cable here. And the data that it's outputting over DVI is the same as it would be putting through straight HDMI, so I don't know what the problem would be. My 6600GT recognizes my projector (as "Epson Projector"), but the 2600XT does not - it just shows "HDTV" as the output name. Which is ironic, because I haven't had any problems of the kind you're describing, when your card DOES recognize it. ;)

It won't allow me to delete any of the factory settings. Maybe I'm in the wrong section to disable these other settings?

I've tried to set it to "force" the setting that I prefer, and it gave me a large warning about doing so. Yet, whenever I test it out by turning the TV off, and then back on again, it resets itself to 1080x1920 @ 30hz Interlaced. It's weird, because CCC recognizes the plasma correctly, so it should also know that it's a 720p plasma, so if anything it should go back to a default of 720p.

Those sound like the right settings to me. As I don't have the card installed right now I'm at a loss to verify it, but maybe I couldn't remove the defaults either... maybe it just didn't matter because it didn't change the res on me. There are three things that come to mind: you find out where CCC gets/stores those output configurations - hopefully is in the registry - and change them. If not, the second option would be to deal with it from the TV perspective... i.e. does that model have any settings that control what resolutions it will accept? Have you searched for the model number in reference to resolution problems? Lastly, I think there are a few posts on this forum about hacking the ID strings that devices use to identify themselves and their capabilities, but that would probably be a last resort due to the complexity if no one's done it with that TV before.

karrih

08-15-08, 02:45 AM

Anyone seen anything like this before?

This is one possible solution. Go to 'Device Manager' -> View -> 'Device by Connection' -> 'PCI standard PCI to PCI bridge' and 'Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for HD audio'. Disabling it helped in my case.

AlexP

08-15-08, 07:13 AM

Some kind soul posted a complete script of his success story with XP/AGP/2400 just before 8 days worth of posts disappeared for good.

Any chance for a re-post or recreation of the steps?

Cheers

Regulator

08-15-08, 10:21 AM

flhthemi

08-15-08, 11:29 AM

Since v8.1 every time Windows boots up I get a window that says MMLoadDRV.exe crashed. It's a file in Program Files(x86)\ATI Technologies. I recently reloaded Vista for other reasons but it continues. Is anybody else seeing this?
HD2600PRO, Vista64, PCI-E.

If any of you are still having this problem there is a work around. I bought a brand new Toshiba P305-S8842 laptop and as soon as I changed the setting for the Windows task bar to auto hide I started getting the error at bootup or if I logged off and logged back on. The file MMLOADDRV.EXE. as you might not already know, is part of ATI's CCC and this bug needs to be fixed. Turn off auto hide or via msconfig dont let the CCC load.

AlexP

08-15-08, 12:03 PM

Ok - here's one unsuccessful report from the battlefield - looking for ideas!

System: 2400 Pro AGP, P4 3.4, XP SP3

Installation sequence:
1. Installed the new card
2. removed old ATI drivers with Control Panel
3. Installed 8.4 Hotfix (only)
4. CCC indicates a file error after restart and is basically inaccessible (got the same problem ever since my previous 9150 card)
3a. Applied 0.14 registry mods - all but the 2 dual-mon lines.
4. Installed the DirectX 9.0c August '08 version
5. Reinstalled K-Lite 4.14 - default with no player; no association changes

Cyberlink 7 and CoreAVC were present even before the new card.

Results:
DXVA checker shows all items are fine up to 1080p - except ModelVMW8_PostProc and ModelVMW9_Post Proc

Trying to open MKV x264 files (in both 720p and 1080p) in MPC-HC results in audio only when both CoreAVC and PDVD7 filters are blocked. For some reason the internal filter doesn't work!

When PDVD7 filter is not blocked - it works but without HA

Ideas?

HT Slider

08-15-08, 04:36 PM

I have the EXACT same problem! I've tried everything I can think of. I even got it to boot normally once after installing xp drivers (my OS is vista). when it booted i tried installing the updated ati drivers with CCC and it's slow as hell again. I used driver cleaner and got rid of everything but still doesnt work and tried to reinstall using the same method but still doesnt work.

I originally had a 6600gt that worked flawlessly, then upgraded to the 8500gt (with HDMI out and spdif header) but kept getting that damn "Display Driver nvlddmkm stopped responding, has successfully recovered" error which doesnt have a fix as of yet. Google it--it's a very prevalent problem that has been in existence for over a year now with no resolution. Also, the system works well in xp with the 8500gt but the spdif connection to the video card really doesnt work that well.

After the 8500gt fiasco I popped in an old 7600gt I had lying around, and it worked well. Although I started to notice the picture in vmc looked grainy and I couldnt get any of the overscan features to work well in comparison to the 8500gt. I reinstalled the drivers and nothing would fix it or allow me to adjust the 3d settings. Then i read that the card wanted a 400W psu and mine was only 270W.

So now I've just ordered a new 400W PSU and am going to try out the 2600 once I'm able to install it. Will let you know how it works out.

Talk about a coincidence...

I too have an Nvidia 8500GT and it too keeps failing with the same error. Note that the 8500GT has this same issue in my main HTPC too, so it's troubles have nothing to do with the ATI chipset (the HTPC has an Intel P35 chipset). Also the HD2600XT works flawlessly in the HTPC, so the trouble with that card are specific to the combination of the ATI chipset and the ATI HD2600XT.

I upgraded to a 600W PSU in my study PC and the HD2600XT has the issue with this PSU so clearly it isn't a PSU issue. Also, the HD2600XT uses less power than the Nvidia 6800 and the 6800 works flawlessly.

I have a support request logged with ATI about this issue and so far they keep over and over telling me the problem is that no driver is installed (even though when I manually install the driver it installs fine and there are no errors). Hopefully they will soon escalate the request to someone who can dig into the issue better (so far the same person is responding and has been for almost 2 weeks).

As far as I'm concerned, the HD2600XT issue appears to be some sort of PCIe bus problem when used with this ATI chipset. The fact the any process that attempts to display anything on the screen runs at 100% CPU utilization, yet the CPU fan doesn't kick in tells me there is some other bottleneck with the video communication path (and with this card it is a PCIe bus that is in use).

The question is what is causing the PCIe bus issue and is there a solution? I also wonder if the bus issue is somehow caused by a conflict between the ATI X200 graphics and the ATI HD2600XT card, or if it is an issue between the ATI RS480M chipset and the ATI HD2600XT card.

I'll let you know if ATI finds a solution. I'd really like to be able to watch HD 1080i/1080p content on this PC and the Nvidia 6800 combined with the AMD 64 3400+ processor can't handle anything over 720p without pegging the CPU (and running the CPU cooling fan at LOUD speeds). If I can get the HD2600XT working, it should handle all HD content fine.

HT Slider

08-15-08, 04:45 PM

HT Slider

08-15-08, 09:06 PM

Disable the x200 in Windows as well as in the Bios (if you can). Only then would I remove all the ATI drivers with drive cleaner etc as you did then try to reinstall.

That is exactly what I tried first (the BIOS was already configured to initialize the PCIe card first from when I installed the Nvidia PCIe card).

Then I tried simply uninstalling the Nvidia driver and installing the ATI driver - no go. Then I got more aggressive at using ATI uninstall tools, then registry cleaners, then manually searching the registry for leftovers (there were actually 3 Nvidia services the were left trying to start - but by uninstalling the driver the service executables were deleted so silent errors were showing up in the event logs).

I then tried manually installing the drivers, etc. Manually installing the drivers did work, but the system remained non-functional.

Personally I never use driver cleaners nor registry cleaners. I'm convinced they typically create more trouble than they solve (but I do resort to them when things go wrong).

HT Slider

08-15-08, 09:41 PM

This is one possible solution. Go to 'Device Manager' -> View -> 'Device by Connection' -> 'PCI standard PCI to PCI bridge' and 'Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for HD audio'. Disabling it helped in my case.

You just made my day.

It's now working using my old psu nonetheless.

I love you.

Unfortunately, audio over hdmi become disabled. Doh. Where you ever able to get the audio off the 2600 to work afterwards?

Thinking that there seemed to be a problem with the chipset driver, I searched and searched, trying to find one. Eventually I found a discussion talking about where to find the XP Northbridge and Southbridge drivers for ATI chipsets.

It turns out that although ATI doesn't have it under chipset drivers, they do apparently have both a Northbridge and Southbridge chipset driver for the Xpress 200 chipset.

To get the Northbridge driver, you apparently need to install the ATI on-board video driver for the Xpress 200 from the ATI Xpress 200 on-board video driver page.

To get the Southbridge driver, you need to install the ATI southbridge driver, found at the ATI Xpress 200 on-board video web page (same page as the Xpress 200 video driver).

Both of these can be found here:

For Vista:
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=vista32/integrated-vista32

For XP:
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=xp/integratedip-xp

I don't know if this will work (yet), but my current theory is to:

Uninstall the current Nvidia drivers and then use Driver Sweeper to remove the lingering services (since I know these don't get removed).
Reboot and while the standard VGA driver is installed, install the Xpress200/RS480 Southbridge driver (this apparently includes an updated ATI version of the "standard PCI to PCI bridge" driver). The only reason to do this afterwards is I don't want to run Driver Sweeper once this is installed.
Shut down and physically remove the Nvidia video card.
Reboot and configure the BIOS to use the integrated graphics.
In Vista, install the Xpress 200/Northbridge driver. At this point, hopefully Vista will be up and running properly with ATI hardware driven by current ATI drivers.
Shut down and physically install the HD 2600XT video card (without uninstalling the ATI drivers).
Reboot and configure the BIOS to use the PCIe card.
Install the HD 2600XT video driver.
If we are lucky, we'll have a functional system at this point...

Note that I don't know for certain we actually need to install the Xpress 200/Northbridge driver. It is possible that the regular ATI HD2600XT driver includes the RS480 Northbridge driver (but I didn't see it mentioned in the package contents on the ATI download site).

Regulator

08-16-08, 12:42 AM

Thinking that there seemed to be a problem with the chipset driver, I searched and searched, trying to find one. Eventually I found a discussion talking about where to find the XP Northbridge and Southbridge drivers for ATI chipsets.

It turns out that although ATI doesn't have it under chipset drivers, they do apparently have both a Northbridge and Southbridge chipset driver for the Xpress 200 chipset.

To get the Northbridge driver, you apparently need to install the ATI on-board video driver for the Xpress 200 from the ATI Xpress 200 on-board video driver page.

To get the Southbridge driver, you need to install the ATI southbridge driver, found at the ATI Xpress 200 on-board video web page (same page as the Xpress 200 video driver).

Both of these can be found here:

For Vista:
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=vista32/integrated-vista32

For XP:
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=xp/integratedip-xp

I don't know if this will work (yet), but my current theory is to:

Uninstall the current Nvidia drivers and then use Driver Sweeper to remove the lingering services (since I know these don't get removed).
Reboot and while the standard VGA driver is installed, install the Xpress200/RS480 Southbridge driver (this apparently includes an updated ATI version of the "standard PCI to PCI bridge" driver). The only reason to do this afterwards is I don't want to run Driver Sweeper once this is installed.
Shut down and physically remove the Nvidia video card.
Reboot and configure the BIOS to use the integrated graphics.
In Vista, install the Xpress 200/Northbridge driver. At this point, hopefully Vista will be up and running properly with ATI hardware driven by current ATI drivers.
Shut down and physically install the HD 2600XT video card (without uninstalling the ATI drivers).
Reboot and configure the BIOS to use the PCIe card.
Install the HD 2600XT video driver.
If we are lucky, we'll have a functional system at this point...

Note that I don't know for certain we actually need to install the Xpress 200/Northbridge driver. It is possible that the regular ATI HD2600XT driver includes the RS480 Northbridge driver (but I didn't see it mentioned in the package contents on the ATI download site).

I've tried installing the ati hdmi drivers off of the realtek website but does not recognize anything during install, with or without the hd audio device enabled.

Regulator

08-16-08, 12:45 AM

I missed this post.

Are there any other side effects by disabling these devices?

I don't mind loosing the HDMI audio (since I won't be using it), but disabling the PCI bus driver sounds like a bad idea...
I believe you are only disabling windows from trying to control the audio controller on the card itself. Otherwise the card works perfectly with all it's features (except audio of course).

HT Slider

08-16-08, 01:29 AM

I believe you are only disabling windows from trying to control the audio controller on the card itself. Otherwise the card works perfectly with all it's features (except audio of course).

Bad news. My attempts to install the missing Southbridge ATI driver did not work. Surprisingly the ATI "Southbridge" download doesn't include a southbridge driver for the X200/RS480 at all. Instead, it includes a Northbridge PCIe driver that replaces the default Microsoft driver.

Installing the ATI Northbridge PCIe driver didn't make any difference at all and the system was still bogged right down all the time (unusable).

Now to the disabling of the PCI-to-PCI bridge... As soon as I disable it, my PC did initially "seemingly" run flawlessly. Unfortunately all of the DXVA hardware acceleration does not work at all with the HD2600XT now. In fact, no display driver actually shows up in Device Manager at all. Vista Aero also turns off and the system is actually running in "VGA Save" mode (although it is nice and fast at basic applications like Internet, word processing, etc.).

Regulator, are you certain that your system is still fully running the HD2600XT driver and that it is fully functional with the PCI-to-PCI bridge disabled? Mine certainly isn't.

mushbert

08-16-08, 02:12 AM

On the topic of this PCI to PCI bridge, why does it even show as "Standard"? In my experience (which is mostly limited to AGP systems) system devices like that should have a chipset-specific driver. All of mine are prefixed with VIA since this is a KT400 board... so if you're using Windows' generic one, might not that in itself be causing an issue? Ignore this post if you know otherwise, of course.

karrih

08-16-08, 02:51 AM

Unfortunately, audio over hdmi become disabled. Doh. Where you ever able to get the audio off the 2600 to work afterwards?

I have sound card so I take my spdif and analog channels from there. Perhaps you could check if there is something useful for proper audio setup in the first post of this thread.

karrih

08-16-08, 02:56 AM

Are there any other side effects by disabling these devices?

I don't mind loosing the HDMI audio (since I won't be using it), but disabling the PCI bus driver sounds like a bad idea...

No, I meant that only UAA driver needs to be disabled, it is just listed under PCI driver which should be left as it is.

Come to think of it, it might be a good idea to check if you display card vendors driver installers have some additional audio drivers that Catalyst does not include.

AlexP

08-16-08, 05:08 AM

thecaptain2000

08-16-08, 06:11 AM

Hi,
I am trying to set up a media cente4r using an old mobo, a Masterfar2 with an opteron 250. I have, as a graphic card, a sapphire agp 2600xt. I am using the latest 8.7 drivers. I can get WH acceleration for h.264, from video files and from a HDTV sourve, using the cyberlynk codec, but I cannot get HW acceleration for Wmv files (which appared to be using the vc-1 encoding). After two days of misery I have installed the dvxachecker program, which gives me the output you can see in the picture attached. From my reading of it (I am not **really** an expert on this matter), it seems I can ger WMv9 acceleration put to 1280x720 but not for 1920x1080. Is this limitation I have to live with? is there something I can do to het 1080p content HW accelerated?.

Furthermore, I read of a chap who got accellerated .mkv files by installing the ffdshow codec and disabling in it the h.264 decoding. I could not replicate his success, do you guys know if it is actually possible and how to do it?
Thanks in advance

Regulator

08-16-08, 09:36 AM

Bad news. My attempts to install the missing Southbridge ATI driver did not work. Surprisingly the ATI "Southbridge" download doesn't include a southbridge driver for the X200/RS480 at all. Instead, it includes a Northbridge PCIe driver that replaces the default Microsoft driver.

Installing the ATI Northbridge PCIe driver didn't make any difference at all and the system was still bogged right down all the time (unusable).

Now to the disabling of the PCI-to-PCI bridge... As soon as I disable it, my PC did initially "seemingly" run flawlessly. Unfortunately all of the DXVA hardware acceleration does not work at all with the HD2600XT now. In fact, no display driver actually shows up in Device Manager at all. Vista Aero also turns off and the system is actually running in "VGA Save" mode (although it is nice and fast at basic applications like Internet, word processing, etc.).

Regulator, are you certain that your system is still fully running the HD2600XT driver and that it is fully functional with the PCI-to-PCI bridge disabled? Mine certainly isn't.

Yep. the drivers and CCC all installed without a hitch. I got Aero running and dxva is also functional (verified with mpc-hc). I didnt disable the PCI-to-PCI bridge, I disabled the High definition audio listed under it.

rahzel

08-16-08, 04:48 PM

i have a Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H with 780G/HD3200 IGP and i can't seem to get the UseBT601CSC registry fix working. i found the primary video device GUID, went to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{G UID}\0000 and 0001, created a STRING value for both, named it "UseBT601CSC" (without quotes) and made the value 1. am i doing something wrong?

i'm using Windows XP Pro SP3 btw with Cat. 8.475 (currently the latest ones that work with XP and 780G).

thecaptain2000

08-17-08, 04:41 AM

AlexP

08-17-08, 10:54 AM

hi, this post iverride my previous one. I do understand now (if I am corect) from the output of my dvxa checker I attached I have no WMV accelleration at all. I went back reading this thread (althought it is VERY long) and I believe I understand there is a dvxa bug in the ati drivers?
Is this information correct or more simply put a 2600xt agp is not supposed to provide such an acceleration?

I can confirm that my DXVA results are exactly the same as yours (w/2400PRO)..
Are you able to run X264 videos with HA in MPC-HC by any chance?

thecaptain2000

08-17-08, 01:05 PM

I can confirm that my DXVA results are exactly the same as yours (w/2400PRO)..
Are you able to run X264 videos with HA in MPC-HC by any chance?

Hi, I am nor sure what MPC-HC is but I can have HA watching H.264 videos on .ts files using powerdvd ultra. I would have thougth a 2600xt was more powerful than a 2400 pro so if our results are the same maybe I **do** have some configuration problems... or I believed too much in some marketing hype....

el Filou

08-17-08, 01:24 PM

Hi, I am nor sure what MPC-HC is but I can have HA watching H.264 videos on .ts files using powerdvd ultra. I would have thougth a 2600xt was more powerful than a 2400 pro so if our results are the same maybe I **do** have some configuration problems... or I believed too much in some marketing hype....
Did you use the ExDeus .reg file for 2600 XT AGP or did you tweak the registry manually (or not at all)?

Indeed _PostProc is equal to no acceleration. Basically _MoComp is also equal to no acceleration if you have a decent CPU because it's such a light task, so you 'll want _IDCT as a minimum.

In DXVA Checker, try to click on a line and choose "Driver Settings". Fiddle with entries relating to WMV. Start by setting WMV_NA to 0 and that should unlock a "WMV Acceleration" tickbox in CCC. This should enable IDCT for VMW8 and WMV9.

Note: to be honest most of the WMV8 and WMV9 clips I've seen don't really need hardware acceleration as it's usually used by low-res made-for-the-Web clips. What Microsoft calls "WMV HD" isn't really used, and for VC1 on Blu-ray you've got full decode.

thecaptain2000

08-17-08, 02:29 PM

Did you use the ExDeus .reg file for 2600 XT AGP or did you tweak the registry manually (or not at all)?

Indeed _PostProc is equal to no acceleration. Basically _MoComp is also equal to no acceleration if you have a decent CPU because it's such a light task, so you 'll want _IDCT as a minimum.

In DXVA Checker, try to click on a line and choose "Driver Settings". Fiddle with entries relating to WMV. Start by setting WMV_NA to 0 and that should unlock a "WMV Acceleration" tickbox in CCC. This should enable IDCT for VMW8 and WMV9.

Note: to be honest most of the WMV8 and WMV9 clips I've seen don't really need hardware acceleration as it's usually used by low-res made-for-the-Web clips. What Microsoft calls "WMV HD" isn't really used, and for VC1 on Blu-ray you've got full decode.

hi, thak you for your reply. I do not have a WMV_NA tickbox, in that sceen in DVXA checker. but I do have a WMV acceleration tickbox "checked" in my CCC, althought with no joy, meaning that setting makes no difference in performances. I do have some WMV HD files, I have a few 10GB movies that I would love to have HA as they are not. my processor is an opteron 250 and when playing these clips the load varys between 70 and 100%.
I currently did not tweak the driver at all, if you have the ExDeus .reg file, please pass it on as I could not find it.
(BTW you made me curious about that WMV_NA setting and why I do not have it... I am using Windows xp SP3 with Direct X 9.0c. My ati drivers are 8.7 and my card is a sapphire 2600 xt agp

el Filou

08-17-08, 03:11 PM

It's referenced on the very first post of this thread:

http://home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/

Sorry it's DXVA_WMV_NA actually, but that wouldn't change anything as it just controls whether or not the checkbox is available and you said you already checked it.

Sorry I don't see any other known tweak that could solve your problem if the reg tweak don't work.

HT Slider

08-17-08, 04:16 PM

Yep. the drivers and CCC all installed without a hitch. I got Aero running and dxva is also functional (verified with mpc-hc). I didnt disable the PCI-to-PCI bridge, I disabled the High definition audio listed under it.

Finally I got it working too!!

I tried just disabling the high definition audio device, but the system was still terribly slow (although seemed "a little better").

Disabling the PCI-to-PCI bridge alone did make the system fast, but only the "VGA save" video driver was functional at that point.

I then tried to see if I could use standard devices instead of ATI I/O devices and discovered that the "ATI I/O Communications Processor PCI Bus Controller" was able to revert to a second "PCI-to-PCI bridge". Unfortunately using the standard PCI-to-PCI bridge for both didn't work either (even with the high definition audio disabled).

Finally I decided to manually install the "ATI I/O Communications Processor PCI Bus Controller" in place of both of the "Standard PCI-to-PCI bridge" drivers and all of a sudden the system was working flawlessly.

So, in my case I needed to:

Replace the "Standard PCI-to-PCI bridge" driver with the "ATI I/O Communications Processor PCI Bus Controller".
Disable the "High Definition Audio Controller".

I also tried re-enabling the "High Definition Audio Controller" and as soon as I do, the system bogs down to a crawl again. In other words I needed to do both.

One final thing I did that may have improved things a little (but I'm not sure) is to install the "ATI PCI Express (3GIO) Filter Driver" in place of the "PCI Bus" driver. If you install the ATI Xpress 200 Southbridge driver pack, found at the ATI Xpress 200 video driver download site (linked in an earlier post of mine above), this installs the ATI "Northbridge" driver and this includes this PCI Express driver.

With the exception to no HDMI audio (that I don't use anyway), my system is now working flawlessly with the HD2600XT installed.

BTW, the HD2600XT seems to be quite a bit faster than the Nvidia 6800 - at least for desktop use (scrolling through pdf files, etc.) as well as for video playback (I can now play 1080i and 1080p content with lots of CPU processing to spare; with the 6800 I could only play up to 720p content smoothly).

Regulator

08-17-08, 04:21 PM

Finally I got it working too!!

I tried just disabling the high definition audio device, but the system was still terribly slow (although seemed "a little better").

Disabling the PCI-to-PCI bridge alone did make the system fast, but only the "VGA save" video driver was functional at that point.

I then tried to see if I could use standard devices instead of ATI I/O devices and discovered that the "ATI I/O Communications Processor PCI Bus Controller" was able to revert to a second "PCI-to-PCI bridge". Unfortunately using the standard PCI-to-PCI bridge for both didn't work either (even with the high definition audio disabled).

Finally I decided to manually install the "ATI I/O Communications Processor PCI Bus Controller" in place of both of the "Standard PCI-to-PCI bridge" drivers and all of a sudden the system was working flawlessly.

So, in my case I needed to:

Replace the "Standard PCI-to-PCI bridge" driver with the "ATI I/O Communications Processor PCI Bus Controller".
Disable the "High Definition Audio Controller".

I also tried re-enabling the "High Definition Audio Controller" and as soon as I do, the system bogs down to a crawl again. In other words I needed to do both.

One final thing I did that may have improved things a little (but I'm not sure) is to install the "ATI PCI Express (3GIO) Filter Driver" in place of the "PCI Bus" driver. If you install the ATI Xpress 200 Southbridge driver pack, found at the ATI Xpress 200 video driver download site (linked in an earlier post of mine above), this installs the ATI "Northbridge" driver and this includes this PCI Express driver.

With the exception to no HDMI audio (that I don't use anyway), my system is now working flawlessly with the HD2600XT installed.

BTW, the HD2600XT seems to be quite a bit faster than the Nvidia 6800 - at least for desktop use (scrolling through pdf files, etc.) as well as for video playback (I can now play 1080i and 1080p content with lots of CPU processing to spare; with the 6800 I could only play up to 720p content smoothly).
Nice. Now I wish I could get the hdmi audio to work with this chipset but cant figure it out. Guess I will just use the spdif from my motherboard.

HT Slider

08-17-08, 04:31 PM

Nice. Now I wish I could get the hdmi audio to work with this chipset but cant figure it out. Guess I will just use the spdif from my motherboard.

I'm using SPDIF from my old Turtle Beach Riviera. My MB (MSI-7145) doesn't have SPDIF out (without an extra add on panel that plugs in).

tetsuo55

08-17-08, 05:10 PM

hi, this post iverride my previous one. I do understand now (if I am corect) from the output of my dvxa checker I attached I have no WMV accelleration at all. I went back reading this thread (althought it is VERY long) and I believe I understand there is a dvxa bug in the ati drivers?
Is this information correct or more simply put a 2600xt agp is not supposed to provide such an acceleration?
I can confirm that my DXVA results are exactly the same as yours (w/2400PRO)..
Are you able to run X264 videos with HA in MPC-HC by any chance?

That feature is not acceleration but post-processing, eg denoising and or shareping. these partial dxva features are not supported by MPC-HC

pnyberg

08-17-08, 05:18 PM

thecaptain2000

08-17-08, 06:23 PM

That feature is not acceleration but post-processing, eg denoising and or shareping. these partial dxva features are not supported by MPC-HC

ok, but my question still stand: with a 2600xt agp am I getting all that is supposed to do or are out there plenty of people with a Wmv9 accelleration?

Noah

08-18-08, 02:21 AM

I recently had a video card die in my aging MCE HTPC. It was a lowly Geforce 6600 in a Socket 754 Sempron 2800+ system.

This setup worked perfectly for playing back any and all 720p MKVs or normal 1080i HDTV transport streams . So, earlier this summer, the card crapped out. I ordered up a Sapphire Radeon HD 2600Pro AGP 512MB from Newegg, largely ignorant of AMD/ATI's chronic driver problems and shoddy AGP->PCI-E bridge chip. Since the day it showed up, I've had nothing but trouble trying to get it to play back nearly anything more exotic than MPEG2. What confuses me is why I can't even get the most basic level of DXVA hardware acceleration to work right. I mean, I can live with software decoding h.264 with either CoreAVC or ffdshow. HA is a minor concern to me since I'm not trying to decode 1080p/BluRay or anything like that.

Since I'm watching lots of 720p h.264 MKVs these days, this is a pretty big priority for me.

Here's a list of things I've tried:

- Extensive driver cleaning, manual and otherwise
- Catalyst drivers (variously normal and AGP hotfix) versions 7.8, 7.12, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, etc.
- Using the Cyberlink/PowerDVD h.264 codec with supposed HA support for ATI chips
- Various settings in MPC-HC
- exdeus' registry tweaks

The current state of affairs is such that HA works on h.264 MKVs now, but I believe I'm seeing the infamous 20 fps bug (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=907393). The ideal situation for me would be to get plain old DXVA working and let h.264 decoding happen in ffdshow or CoreAVC, since even obtaining the working version of Cyberlink's CL264dec.ax appears to be of little value given the wide ranging state of MKV compliance with codec standards.

I'm about 75% set on building a new HTPC in the coming month, but I'd like to get this working in the meantime. I'm pretty skeptical of AMD/ATI hardware for the new build, though. BTW, I'm not sure if this is of any consequence, but the PCI - PCI bridge mentioned in this thread never appeared in my device manager.

Any advice on how to get this card working?

mushbert

08-18-08, 03:16 AM

thecaptain2000

08-18-08, 04:45 AM

Since no one responded last time, I'll bring it up again - can someone please post or link to, some short H.264 clips that work with DXVA? Being able to quickly rule out encoding profile issues as a problem would be really nice.

@HT Slider: Congrats, progress is excellent to hear of considering this thread is approaching the 150 page mark. When you changed the driver for that device, did the one you chose come up in the list as compatible hardware? (If so, this might indicate that it should have been installed in the first place.)
mushbert, I believe you are incorrect, to be honest I am not sure it was posted as an answer to you, but I could download such file from this thread, I do not remember the name but it was a file with extension .ts and it was a file from an hd broadcast from switzerland. I still have the file (not on this pc), so if you cannot find it I will post it, although I am not sure about size limitations on uploads

thecaptain2000

08-18-08, 04:48 AM

tetsuo55

08-18-08, 07:59 AM

ok, but my question still stand: with a 2600xt agp am I getting all that is supposed to do or are out there plenty of people with a Wmv9 accelleration?

When using windows media player 11 you should have some form of accelaration. not with MPC-HC though.

MPC-HC internally only supports VC1 and h264 although some external decoders support more and even with dxva like cyberlinks mpeg2 decoder.

--

Everyone:

To get a h264 file working you need:

MPC-HC latest svn version:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=123537

XP output set to VMR9
OR
Vista output set to EVR

Finally use avinaptic or similar and see if the file meets the demands for DXVA.
When encoding new files make sure you stick to these limits:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=132924

this last link also containts some fixed for almost compatible files.

el Filou

08-18-08, 09:45 AM

Is there anybody who knows if ATI intends to start decoding MPEG2 with the UVD?
Wouldn't that be possible?

Just curious... since my HD2600XT is heating up considerely when decoding MPEG2 material but not with h.264 material...
MPEG2 decoding in UVD(2) is listed in the features/specs of the 48x0 cards: http://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonhd4800/index.html ("[...] and now MPEG-2)

I don't think it will ever be possible for UVD1 cards.

EDIT: I asked in the 4870 thread if an owner could provide DXVA Checker screenshots to verify this (MPEG2_VLD should be listed in the modes), but it seems those 48x0 buyers are only interested in HDMI audio.

It would be nice if some hardware site reviewer interested in HTPCs could test the 48x0 touted new video features, mainly MPEG2 in UVD, enhanced upscaling and dual-stream acceleration (it will be important for dual-TV tuner PiP, and this won't work if ATI only supports one HD stream and the second stream in SD).

I think we'll be in the dark until the 44x0 and 46x0 mainstream cards are released and tested by HTPC-centric Web sites.

el Filou

08-18-08, 09:57 AM

Since no one responded last time, I'll bring it up again - can someone please post or link to, some short H.264 clips that work with DXVA? Being able to quickly rule out encoding profile issues as a problem would be really nice.
All HD movie trailers available on Apple's site at http://www.apple.com/trailers/#section=justhd are DXVA-proof, you can use them to test. Install QuickTime Alternative and rename the downloaded clips to .hdmov.

el Filou

08-18-08, 10:02 AM

When using windows media player 11 you should have some form of accelaration. not with MPC-HC though.

MPC-HC internally only supports VC1 and h264 although some external decoders support more and even with dxva like cyberlinks mpeg2 decoder.

From what I understand, his problem is that the ATI driver doesn't advertise WMV8/9_IDCT and WMV8/9_MoComp modes for his card, which are the modes needed to get WMV. The basic WMV9 decoder from Microsoft supports those modes and can be used by any player to accelerate non-VC1 WMV files.

EDIT: thecaptain2000, try to run WMV PowerToy (http://www.citizeninsomniac.com/WMV/), and check in the Decoder tab if "DXVA WMV support" is checked and set to Enabled. Also, make sure you've got the latest version of Wwindows Media Player.

arfster

08-18-08, 10:16 AM

Useful little trick someone over on d9 posted for quick/easy reg changes:

http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=1171272&postcount=24
"If the vbs file did not do the trick, download DXVA Checker at http://cid-94cc264fce430b66.skydrive...cker|_1810.zip, unzip it, run the executable (in admin mode if you use Vista), right-click on any of the values such as ModeMPEG2_IDCT, select Driver Settings.

In the pop-up window, scroll to UseBT601CSC, click on it, set the value to 1, press OK, exit the DXVA Checker utility and reboot the computer."

Reboots not needed in Vista btw. The author has helpfully added all the little reg keys that might be used, including the really obscure ones like vforcehddenoise and co.

thecaptain2000

08-18-08, 10:24 AM

From what I understand, his problem is that the ATI driver doesn't advertise WMV8/9_IDCT and WMV8/9_MoComp modes for his card, which are the modes needed to get WMV. The basic WMV9 decoder from Microsoft supports those modes and can be used by any player to accelerate non-VC1 WMV files.

EDIT: thecaptain2000, try to run WMV PowerToy (http://www.citizeninsomniac.com/WMV/), and check in the Decoder tab if "DXVA WMV support" is checked and set to Enabled. Also, make sure you've got the latest version of Wwindows Media Player.
Hi, I did try to use powertoy, that setting is unchecked, I can check it and mark "ebable" but I cannot save the setting, meaning if I do refresh, it goes back to the original status

thecaptain2000

08-18-08, 10:28 AM

ditto!

AlexP

08-18-08, 10:32 AM

@tetsuo

Unfortunately it's not that simple. In my current set-up (2400PRO AGP), the VMR9 + Cyberlink 8 H264 filter produces black screen. This goes for both windowed and renderless modes.
MPC-HC internal decoder doesn't work at all for some reason - it refuses to accept any mkv (even compliant ones) and I'm getting audio only in the player.

Currently I'm using Powercolor 8.5 drivers. I will try 8.4 and 8.7 hotfixes today and post the full test script tonight.

I did not receive any responses to 2 posts in the last page so I assume nobody has been able to produce sustainable DXVA in MKV results using AGP card.

el Filou

08-18-08, 10:34 AM

Open DXVA Checker, click "Check DirectShow Filters...", open a WMV file (like on of those you would want to be accelerated), then it will list the compatible DXVA modes - if any - , right-click on a line, then "Show Info..." and will display the decoder version.

bjuford

08-18-08, 10:47 AM

Since a lot of people are asking, i figured that this would help some of you.

Since i first got my HD2400pro AGP and started to use it i had, like most of us, headache for about a month. I tried every combination there was with different ATI-drivers, different software players, codecs and on and on... formatting c: every other day just to make sure nothing was left between the f-ups.

I was near to give up when I finally ditched XP for Vista.

Installed it, let Vista itself install all drivers for the motherboard(nforce2) and went to ATI for there AGP hotfix driver. (found out later that 8.5 works best for me and I have a link to it a few posts back). Installed Haali, ac3filter, MPC-HC and PowerDVD8.

Since I don't have a SSE2-board, I had to to the SSE-swap for the PDVD codec(described earlier in this thread).

Changed the idc-flag on all my files that wasn't L4.1 to L4.1

ALL my mkv:s (720p) are now DXVA-compliant. Plays like a charm with no stutter what so ever.

Now, I am not saying that this works for everybody, but it worked for me, DXVA under XP is broken in my system. The movie could hang itself after about 40 minutes sometimes, which wasn't tolerated. Although DXVA seemed to work initially under XP.

tetsuo55

08-18-08, 10:52 AM

AlexP

08-18-08, 11:40 AM

DXVA works fine for me and always has
XPsp2, HD2400pro agp, Catalyst any version starting from 8.2.

MPC-HC's internally decoder has to work, are you using the latest SVN?
Are you sure you set the output to VMR9 and are using the latest version of directx?

I'll keep testing today.. Before I start:
- I'm using MPC-HC from here (Jun, 28): http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=170561/&abmode=1

- and directx 9.0c - ver August 2008

Tetsuo, can you confirm you're using the same ones?

Also, are you on regular catalysts or pure hotfixes? And what are your AGP settings in CCC?

tetsuo55

08-18-08, 12:04 PM

I'll keep testing today.. Before I start:
- I'm using MPC-HC from here (Jun, 28): http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=170561/&abmode=1

- and directx 9.0c - ver August 2008

Tetsuo, can you confirm you're using the same ones?

Also, are you on regular catalysts or pure hotfixes? And what are your AGP settings in CCC?

Well that version is getting you nowhere fast, you need to update to the latest SVN:
http://www.xvidvideo.ru/content/category/1/1/2/

I don't touch CCC apart from the colorspace settings, currently using 8.8 beta but it doesn't work for h264(image breaks up) 8.5 is probably the best version for us

HT Slider

08-18-08, 12:16 PM

@HT Slider: Congrats, progress is excellent to hear of considering this thread is approaching the 150 page mark. When you changed the driver for that device, did the one you chose come up in the list as compatible hardware? (If so, this might indicate that it should have been installed in the first place.)

It did show up and then it produced a warning message saying it might not be compatible, but since I was going for broke I clicked "yes" and installed it anyway.

Right away (even before rebooting), the system sped right up. There are no errors in the device manager, other than the disabled high definition audio.

AlexP

08-18-08, 03:59 PM

Well that version is getting you nowhere fast, you need to update to the latest SVN:
http://www.xvidvideo.ru/content/category/1/1/2/

I don't touch CCC apart from the colorspace settings, currently using 8.8 beta but it doesn't work for h264(image breaks up) 8.5 is probably the best version for us

Ok, 1 step forward - MPC-HC now opens all my mkv files using both PDVD8 and internal MPC-HC decoders.

Another problem remains, using:
- VMR9 (VMR mixer mode on, no YUV mixing) - no image using both decoders - black screen(progress bar is moving though and DXVA is on)
- VMR 9 (VMR mixer off or mixer on and YUV mixing on) - 'scrambled' image and tearing in both decoders
- VMR7, EVR - no acceleration in both decoders
- Overlay - no acceleration in PDVD8; HPC-HC works fine (but can't use subtitles)

Should I reinstall DX, install DX10, install different drivers version or is there anything else that might be influencing the VMR9?

tetsuo55

08-18-08, 04:04 PM

that leaves your driver version.

Which driver are you using?

8.8 does not work for me, just tried 8.7 agp hotfix it doesn't work either, going for 8.5 next

--------

Does your processors support SSE2? if not you need to hack powerdvd

EDIT:

fixed it for myself. CA 8.6 AGP hotfix(reports itself as cat 8.5)
Updated directX with latest installer
Latest SVN version of MPC-HC (733)
Exdeus's reg patches applied

i had corrupt graphics with 8.8 and black screen with anything lower, until i updated MPC-HC that is, so a version higher than 8.6 hotfix might actually work, going to try later.

AlexP

08-19-08, 03:42 PM

Ok, 1 step forward - MPC-HC now opens all my mkv files using both PDVD8 and internal MPC-HC decoders.

Another problem remains, using:
- VMR9 (VMR mixer mode on, no YUV mixing) - no image using both decoders - black screen(progress bar is moving though and DXVA is on)
- VMR 9 (VMR mixer off or mixer on and YUV mixing on) - 'scrambled' image and tearing in both decoders
- VMR7, EVR - no acceleration in both decoders
- Overlay - no acceleration in PDVD8; HPC-HC works fine (but can't use subtitles)

Should I reinstall DX, install DX10, install different drivers version or is there anything else that might be influencing the VMR9?

Ok, I think I made it (with VMR9, MPC-HC 733 , XPSP2, HD2400 AGP, 8.4 or 8.5 hotfixes, and ExDeus reg fixes):

[B]Problem #1:
Black screen when using VMR9
Solution #1:
Hidden deep within the tabs of the VMR settings are so called Proc Amp options. Among them Contrast and Saturation that for some unknown reason decided '0' would be a fun default value.. Nuff said ;)

Problem #2:
Tearing in full screen (horizontal image shifts every now and then)
Solution #2:
Two ways to deal with this:

a) D3D full screen option in VMR9 settings tab (MPC-HC options) at the expense of ANY option changes and rewinds during playback. Simple ctrl-F during playback doesn't fix anything for me for some reason (although it signals flipping the mode).
b) enable 1080p 50Hz in CCC (HDTV options) and set it as default in MPC-HC

I chose the latter.. Will keep testing but it looks silky smooth for now.

Problem #3:
Image with DXVA on (PDVD8 or MPC-HC int codec) is waaay too dark and washed out. Used CoreAVC for comparison.
Solution #3:
Contrast +19 and Brightness +6 and it looks almost exactly like CoreAVC (used screenshots to validate).
CoreAVC with CPU only decoding is somewhat sharper, but that's easy to fix using 'sharpen' shader in MPC-HC. Only if desired though.

That's it - discussion welcome :)

mushbert

08-19-08, 10:00 PM

[...]was a file with extension .ts and it was a file from an hd broadcast from switzerland.
All HD movie trailers available on Apple's site at http://www.apple.com/trailers/#section=justhd are DXVA-proof, you can use them to test. Install QuickTime Alternative and rename the downloaded clips to .hdmov.
Thanks guys.

Ok, I think I made it (with VMR9, MPC-HC 733 [both internal codec and PDVD8], XPSP2, HD2400 AGP, 8.4 or 8.5 hotfixes, and ExDeus reg fixes)
Looking forward to incorporating that info on my next attempt. Thanks for the contribution.

cpalcott

08-20-08, 07:35 AM

All I want to do is play Blu-rays through PowerDVD Ultra 8 as accurately as possible. Most concerned about accurate color for video only (not concerned about photos or games).

I have an Intel 4300 (OC’ed to 3.0), 2 gigs of Adata Ram on Vista32-SP1, a Lite-On blu-ray player drive through a Sapphire 2600xt with 8.7 drivers and the Ex-Deus/Arfster registry tweaks. This is going out dual monitor (vga for PC stuff, component for video) to a 36” direct view CRT. The TV only has 1 HD input so I run everything to an Outlaw 1070 receiver first.

I have calibrated the monitor with the HDNet test patterns through my HD-Tivo. I have a copy of DVE HD. Since, I assume, the HTPC would require a different calibration than the Tivo, is it possible to make up the difference in the video card output with DVE? It looks like DXVA is working fine (usage is low and I have used DXVAChecker).

My main question is how to set up the Ati CCC. I have chosen Arfster’s option #2 in terms of colorspace settings, but which section of CCC should I apply this to? Monitor Properties – Avivo Color? Component Video Properties – Avivo Color? The regular Color section? Avivo Video – Basic Color? Advanced color? What’s with all the different color settings? Does anyone have a sample of how all the CCC settings should be (Anti-Aliasing, SMOOTHVISION,De-interlacing, etc.).

Also, does PowerDVD need the colorspace registry tweak that was floating around for a while?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

grubi

08-21-08, 08:19 AM

8.8 Final are out. For those who are on XP the following may be interresting to you:

# Windows XP support: Edge enhancement, which adjusts the level of sharpness of video content and Noise Reduction, which removes ghosting artifacts while preserving details of the original video. The new slider controls can be found in the All Settings page of the Avivo Video tab found in the Catalyst™ Control Center

For those who have new cards this may be interresting either:

# Dynamic Gamma/Contrast correction, available on the ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 Series, improves video image quality by delivering more vivid color in content with sharp contrasts and scenes with low and bright images.

# Improved video presets, available for the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 and ATI Radeon™ 4800 Series, delivers a newly optimized video presets that users can select depending on what kind of video content they are viewing.

gbcrush

08-21-08, 10:31 AM

Here are some key points that will hopefully help:

TVs, video sources, and typical PC video files use grey levels between 16-235 to represent the black to white range.
PCs and PC monitors normally operate using a 0-255 range.
Since PCs need video to display video correctly, during video processing it is typical to expand video from 16-235 into 0-255 before sending it to the desktop.
Although PCs normally expand video, there is a bug in ATI drivers where SD content isn't expanded unless "UseBT601CSC=1" is set in the registry.
There are two ways to get video to display correctly on a TV:

at final output, "compress" everything from 0-255 into 16-235 (this makes everything look correct including desktop, pictures, games, but it means video is expanded and compressed plus BTB and WTW is lost). If you want to play video games, use the PC as a PC, and look at pictures, this is the best option since everything looks correct, including video.
don't expand video before sending it to the desktop (this means the video maintains BTB and WTW and potentially has less processing; but it means that the desktop, pictures, and video games will not look right). If you are a videophile or your HTPC is dedicated to video output only, this is the best option.

By default, when using an HDMI to HDMI connection to an HDTV or when using component video, #1 is done automatically.
The CCC "color" brightness and contrast settings affect the final output and can be used to perform #1 (if not done automatically). Typically "color" brightness/contrast needs to be set to (approximately) +31/73% to convert 0-255 into 16-235.
The CCC AVIVO brightness and contrast settings affect the video expansion and can be used to perform #2. Typically "AVIVO" brightness/contrast needs to be set to +16/86% to send video non-expanded (16-235).
If everything is done by the video card in hardware, ATI uses 10-bit color accuracy and in theory there should be no loss by using option #1. On the other hand 3rd party codecs, like ffdshow, only send 8-bit color to the renderer so some argue there may be a very minor loss in accuracy if #1 is used. Note that this has been an ongoing issue of debate and what I have stated is my best understanding/interpretation after my research - but it still isn't necessarily correct.
If you use option #1, a screen capture of video will produce a picture using the 0-255 range.
If you use option #2, a screen capture of video will produce a picture using the 16-235 range.

Personally I use option #1 and Arfster uses option #2.

What I don't know for certain is if component out is already compressed into 16-235. If it is, all you need is to do is add "UseBT601CSC=1" and to then check calibration (and fine tune your TV). If component doesn't automatically compress into 16-235, you then need to choose option 1 or option 2 above (and then fine tune your TV).

My head still doesnt know this like the back of my hand, so if I could run this buy you guys:

I finally got a BD player. a PS3. When my HDMI cable comes in, I plan on setting it to use full-range (RGB, 0-255) over HDMI.

- If I want my HTPC to match the color levels as close as possible, I should set the card to expand SD video settings to 0-255 (to match pictures, and HD video, etc). Since I'm currently using a DVI to HDMI cable, this should preserve the 0-255 range and the same TV calibration settings should look correct for both, right?

However:

... if I want to use the ATI DVI to HDMI dongle in order to get audio on the HDMI cable (likely if/when I upgrade to an HD 4650 or something), the dongle is going to automatically compress the color values back down to 16-235 right? In that case, I can still keep the registry settings, but I'll want to switch the PS3 to use 16-235 over HDMI, and recalibrate the TV to match, correct?

topcaser

08-21-08, 02:06 PM

# Improved video presets, available for the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 and ATI Radeon™ 4800 Series, delivers a newly optimized video presets that users can select depending on what kind of video content they are viewing.

Why is this feature only for newer devices available? It is the same core!!! That is not fair.

grubi

08-21-08, 02:34 PM

Why is this feature only for newer devices available? It is the same core!!! That is not fair.

I bet you know the answer yourself ;)

topcaser

08-21-08, 02:39 PM

Yeah, iam pretty sure.

Nevertheless, iam pretty sure, that my 2600XT is also able to do the job. Propably they coded the HW Id to disable the feature.

$$$$$$$$$:D:D

topcaser

08-21-08, 02:40 PM

Has anyone tried these drivers out and can report what's working and what not? Arfster is not active any more, what a petty...

jong1

08-21-08, 02:44 PM

Dee_NA

08-21-08, 07:07 PM

I'm guessin not much has changed with the ATi CAT 8.8 version?

HT Slider

08-22-08, 01:59 AM

My head still doesnt know this like the back of my hand, so if I could run this buy you guys:

I finally got a BD player. a PS3. When my HDMI cable comes in, I plan on setting it to use full-range (RGB, 0-255) over HDMI.

- If I want my HTPC to match the color levels as close as possible, I should set the card to expand SD video settings to 0-255 (to match pictures, and HD video, etc). Since I'm currently using a DVI to HDMI cable, this should preserve the 0-255 range and the same TV calibration settings should look correct for both, right?

However:

... if I want to use the ATI DVI to HDMI dongle in order to get audio on the HDMI cable (likely if/when I upgrade to an HD 4650 or something), the dongle is going to automatically compress the color values back down to 16-235 right? In that case, I can still keep the registry settings, but I'll want to switch the PS3 to use 16-235 over HDMI, and recalibrate the TV to match, correct?

You have it right.

One thing to consider is digital video, including Bluray, is encoded using 16-235 as the visible range. Another point to consider is for HD content, specifically the BT.709 colorspace is used. If you tell your HDTV to use "full range RGB", we (I) don't know necessarily which colorspace is going to be used; nor which colorspace the PS3 will transform Bluray movies into. In other words there may be some minor color hue deviation if you use "full range RGB", instead of the standard BT.709 colorspace.

The only real advantage I can see to using 0-255 at the HDTV is for non-video applications, such as displaying pictures, playing video games, etc. The greater grey scale range "should" produce a very slightly better image for non-video.

Personally I would calibrate your HDTV to spec (16-235) and, to keep things simple, use the ATI HDMI dongle and an HDMI cable to hook it up.

The Holy Gav

08-22-08, 05:58 AM

hi guys
sorry if this is a repeat question, i currently have a 2600hd xt ati card in my home theater, i can get a 3650hd for £36 or a 3850 for £50, on the video playback front i play sd dvd mainly with a small but growing collection of hd dvd and bluray movies on my projector.
my main question is would upgrading from my 2600hd xt to either of these other two options yield a better result visually.
other quick specs are x2 amd 4800, vista premium os, 4gb ram
regards in advance

el Filou

08-22-08, 08:01 AM

jong1

08-22-08, 08:10 AM

You have it right.

One thing to consider is digital video, including Bluray, is encoded using 16-235 as the visible range. Another point to consider is for HD content, specifically the BT.709 colorspace is used. If you tell your HDTV to use "full range RGB", we (I) don't know necessarily which colorspace is going to be used; nor which colorspace the PS3 will transform Bluray movies into. In other words there may be some minor color hue deviation if you use "full range RGB", instead of the standard BT.709 colorspace.

The only real advantage I can see to using 0-255 at the HDTV is for non-video applications, such as displaying pictures, playing video games, etc. The greater grey scale range "should" produce a very slightly better image for non-video.

Personally I would calibrate your HDTV to spec (16-235) and, to keep things simple, use the ATI HDMI dongle and an HDMI cable to hook it up.I agree with all that. However, I would be very surprised if he has any colorspace issues unless using ffdshow to resize and not doing RGB conversion within it. I think there is pretty much universal consistency now in the way the colorspace choice is made - in HDTVs and in PC drivers:

- If video supplied is <720p use BT.601
- If video supplied is >=720p use BT.709

The luminance level does not come into the equation.

This will work correctly for DVDs and Blu-ray.

I am sure it would have been extensively written about if the PS3 upscaled DVDs incorrectly.

el Filou

08-22-08, 08:49 AM

I think there is pretty much universal consistency now in the way the colorspace choice is made - in HDTVs and in PC drivers:

- If video supplied is <720p use BT.601
- If video supplied is >=720p use BT.709

BTW, I think that's one more thing that could be made better for PCs by deciding based on the horizontal resolution instead of the vertical. For example a 720p cropped clip of a 2.35 movie comes out at 1280x540 (think trailers on Apple's website, ripped movies, Web clips, etc.), which the graphics card think is SD when it's not.
If they based the check on "anything more than 720 pixels wide is HD" it would be better.

jong1

08-22-08, 09:34 AM

Yes. Good point.

arfster

08-22-08, 10:00 AM

Yup, the horizontal resolution thing is the Haali renderer solution, and is far better.

Not sure this isn't a Windows issue though?

HT Slider

08-22-08, 01:51 PM

I agree with all that. However, I would be very surprised if he has any colorspace issues unless using ffdshow to resize and not doing RGB conversion within it. I think there is pretty much universal consistency now in the way the colorspace choice is made - in HDTVs and in PC drivers:

- If video supplied is <720p use BT.601
- If video supplied is >=720p use BT.709

The luminance level does not come into the equation.

This will work correctly for DVDs and Blu-ray.

I am sure it would have been extensively written about if the PS3 upscaled DVDs incorrectly.

I don't want to open a can of worms here, but my understanding is "full range RGB" uses the sRGB colorspace, regardless of resolution. For standard video I 100% agree with you on the use of BT.601 for SD and BT.709 for HD, but expanded, full range RGB (sRGB) is not typically used for video.

If an HDTV can be switched into "full range RGB" or sRGB mode, I would "expect" it to most likely use the sRGB colorspace just like a PC monitor does (and if memory serves me correctly, this is quite close to BT.709, but not close to BT.601).

How can strict compliance with BT.601 or BT.709 be even possible when "full range RGB" is used? Both BT.601 and BT.709 use a 16-235/240 range yet full range RGB uses 0-255.

jong1

08-22-08, 03:20 PM

I think there are two parts to this:

- Changing the gamut, the primary chromacity values, for sRGB, BT.601 (where they are merely "implied" anyway) and BT.709. This is of "relatively minor importance " and are generally ignored in any conversion anyway - the primaries of the display device are normally used. I do not think there is any consumer display and currently very few professional, even studio, ones that change the gamut depending on the input colorspace.

- The color conversion matrix from YUV to RGB, which is what is "normally" meant when discussing colorspace conversion.

If any source device is supplying RGB then by definition that device has done that conversion already (according to the rules previously mentioned). I might be wrong but I do not know of a device that will pass "full range" YCbCr for normally used resolutions but that would certainly be out of spec and confusing, since the DVI spec does not support YCbCr and HDMI mandates video levels for all but VGA. My AVR, for example, will pass "full range RGB" over HDMI, presumably for DVI display device compatibility. but it will always use 16-235 for YCbCr.

However, to be fair, with the current confusion over this whole area, you are right it is probably impossible to rule problems out completely. But, for discs that are not mastered incorrectly, full range RGB (misused ffdshow and dodgy old upscaling DVD players excepted) should always be fine. This certainly applies to the OP's case as the colorspace conversion will have been applied by the PS3 or PC.

csero

08-22-08, 04:49 PM

jong1

08-22-08, 05:41 PM

I've tried a HD 2400 pro card in an ASUS board with 2.2 G Pentium Dual core. I've installed the latest ccc driver. Running XP pro SP3.

I've tried to connect a Mitsubishi HC1500 projector to the DVI port with a standard DVI-HDMI cable, but there is no pic on the Mitsubishi.
In the control center only the VGA display active and nothing happens when I try to enable the second display. The DIGITAL PANEL option is also missing on the left side of the CC.
The ATI dongle is only necessary for HDMI sound, right, otherwise std cables are ok.
What did I do wrong?

Could somebody please help.I am not sure about the 2400, but for many ATI cards the ATI dongle also changes the video output from RGB with 0-255 luminance levels to YCbCr 16-235. In theory your device should accept both but it is possible it prefers YCbCr, so it may be worth trying an ATI dongle.

Also I guess there may be settings that tell the projector which input to expect, although that sounds unlikely.

mushbert

08-23-08, 02:56 AM

Another area the Catalyst drivers are sorely lacking. When I first tried the 2600XT I was greatly impressed by the old-school resolution changes and dualhead output (unlike my NV cards there are no blanking-flickering attacks when switching modes). But as soon as I started setting it up that view quickly dissolved. Once I had it in dual-view or whatever ATI calls it, it was impossible to go back to a single display, and swapping primary displays doesn't seem to work right either.

Try booting the machine with only the projector plugged in (and turned on) and see if that helps.

topcaser

08-23-08, 11:36 AM

CCC8.8 is the best driver ever, from my point of view.
pro: no reg tweaks necessary any more
pro: my HW191D monitor is adjustable to 75Hz the first time. Great work.
pro: deinterlacing SD works like a charm again
pro: no problem at all with HD content (H.264)

brhinehart

08-23-08, 12:57 PM

I've tried a HD 2400 pro card in an ASUS board with 2.2 G Pentium Dual core. I've installed the latest ccc driver. Running XP pro SP3.

I've tried to connect a Mitsubishi HC1500 projector to the DVI port with a standard DVI-HDMI cable, but there is no pic on the Mitsubishi.
In the control center only the VGA display active and nothing happens when I try to enable the second display. The DIGITAL PANEL option is also missing on the left side of the CC.
The ATI dongle is only necessary for HDMI sound, right, otherwise std cables are ok.
What did I do wrong?

Could somebody please help.
It should word without the ATI HDMI adapter. Mine is working on a Epson 1080UB.

The only issue I run into half the time is I have to unplug the hdmi cable after Vista boots to the login screen and plug it back in to get video. You might try doing that.

arfster

08-23-08, 02:12 PM

CCC8.8 is the best driver ever, from my point of view.
pro: no reg tweaks necessary any more

At least in Vista32 you need usebt601csc for SD levels (14 month old bug), as well as tweaks to get acceleration back with dual monitors(only 8 months old).

emilot

08-23-08, 02:43 PM

At least in Vista32 you need usebt601csc for SD levels (14 month old bug), as well as tweaks to get acceleration back with dual monitors(only 8 months old).

arfster can you tell us if there is something good with the new drivers, worth to download?

arfster

08-23-08, 03:15 PM

arfster can you tell us if there is something good with the new drivers, worth to download?

Not fixed anything for me, but everyone has their own unique issues :-)

topcaser

08-24-08, 01:48 AM

thecaptain2000

08-24-08, 08:05 AM

Hi,
I have a 2600 xt agp, I am using catalyst 8.7. Now, I did not seem to have HA for wmv 1080p files, and indeed I still do not if I am using Windows media player or power dvd. Now, the bizarre development comes if I tell media player classic to use Cyberlink decoder (the same one of Powerdvd) for handling h264/vc1 and bam, the HA is right there, I went from 100% CPU to 11%. Could some poster with more experience than me tell me how (MPC) does it do it? I still have one more problem to solve and it is the HA of mkv files. Is there any particoular setting or tweak or trick I need to use on MPC to haev HA on them? since I am told there could be a case where the mkv files I have are encoded with the wrong specification, can anybody post a link of a 1080p mkv file that **should** work?
Thanks in advance
Renato

Donnacha

08-24-08, 08:36 AM

I have an GeCube AGP 2600 pro,been using for a while now for HD TV (BBC & ITV) and Bluray / HD DVD (using PDVD 8). My PC is XP SP3, p4 2.8 with 1 GB RAM. I had been using the original drivers that came with the card (7.8 I believe). All had been working well......I decided I'd give the 8.7 hotfix a go just for the hell of it! Well, HA still worked but nowhere near as well as the CPU usage increased so there was some stutters, and some codecs (i.e. MPEG2) didn't seem to acceerate at all.

So I uninstalled and went back to the original drivers and CCC. Now PDVD 8 is acting up, deciding not to play or display (can hear sound) some Bluray discs (Rambo 2008, Die Hard 3 for example). Anyone any clues on this? Should I try to reinstall PDVD8 or is it a driver issue?

Cheers

tetsuo55

08-24-08, 12:09 PM

My 2400pro AGP (on a nforce2 mobo with an athlonXP cpu) does not play well with 8.8

I am unable to use any form of DXVA with any version newer than 8.6 agp hotfix

thecaptain2000

08-24-08, 02:48 PM

Hi,
I have installed a version of the Windows media player classic, I am told this is not a stable bersion of it, the build number is 1.1.752.0. My catalyst drivers are 8.7 and I am using windows XP professional. I am using just the built in decoders and I have disabled VC1 ffmpeg and H264 ffmpeg. Now all of a sudden I have HA for all WMV9 files and for most mkv files (I have a few with little accelleration, possibly those ones with non standard encoding). Funny enough, if I play the same WMV fiels with Windows media player 11 or Powerdvd 8 they are still **not** accellerated. I guess I have to thank free software developers. I must say to Ati/Sapphire and Microsoft: Shame on you. These features should be working out of the box as advertised where instead I had to waste lots of time to make them work. Moreover I have the uncomfortable feeling these features, unleashed by the free, GPL codecs were just kept hidden from me for some marketing scam.
Now, if I could just get this codecs and my HVR-4000 work under linux I would ditch all of you all together.

mushbert

08-25-08, 01:44 AM

@thecaptain2000: Good stuff. Two questions for you: Can you please check which codecs are actually being used? In MPC, right-click on the video while it's playing and hover on Filters, it should show about 5 items, the splitter (presumeably Haali), audio decoder and mixer, video decoder and renderer. Second, what processor are you running?

@Donnacha: I'd suggest reinstalling PDVD, and possibly AnyDVD HD (if you're using it - if not maybe try it out (http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html)). The particular discs you mentioned have caused problems for some people (IIRC Rambo had a non-standard copyright mechanism), and they're both mentioned in AnyDVD's bugfix list. No idea why changing the drivers would break it, but that seems to be a recurring theme in this thread...

Just out of curiosity, how many people here are actively backing up their system in anticipation of the video card's functionality crapping out?

thecaptain2000

08-25-08, 04:52 AM

Hi,
I am using an opteron 250, my motherboard for this HTC is a Masterfar 2.

I did the verification you asked me on a 1080p WMV file.
the result was:

WMV Video Mixing Render 7 (Windowed)
Direct Sound: SB X-Fi Audio
MPC video Decoder
WMV Audio Decoder DMO

I also did a verification on a mkv file I have, the only difference was the audio decoder was DTS.

I also used the ffdshow codec in DVBViewer to decode H264 HD content and also there, that codec runs like the wind using even less cpu power that the Cyberlink powerdvd 8 H264 decoder.
The filte

mushbert

08-25-08, 12:48 PM

Oh... you're using MPC-HC. I guess I got thrown off when you said "Windows" media player classic, and I was trying to figure out whose release of MPC now included DXVA compatible codecs... :o

muratcam11

08-25-08, 01:03 PM

When i try to use dxva with 1080p movies i always get a system crash within a blue screen. ( vista, catalyst 8.8, kmplayer with cycberlink and evr renderer) Could you please help me?? ( i'm using a Hd3850 agp graphic card)

thecaptain2000

08-25-08, 01:07 PM

hi,
I just managed to get HA for my HD sat broadcasts and my files, now, I thought, it would have been a cake walk to play a blu ray with Power DVD ultra with HA... well, so wrong I was....

anybody feeling like landing a helping hand?
sapphire 2600xt AGP
opteron 250
Catalyst drivers 8.7:mad:

dabl

08-25-08, 04:21 PM

...for many ATI cards the ATI dongle also changes the video output from RGB with 0-255 luminance levels to YCbCr 16-235.

Can anyone confirm/deny that the dvi -> vga ati dongle also does this conversion?

Noah

08-25-08, 05:29 PM

arfster

08-25-08, 05:36 PM

So, what's your experience? Are the problems a matter of "corner cases" or are serious problems a matter of course with this series?

Major problems with pci are much, much rarer (agp is just a turd, there's no way of getting round it). You still need to apply usebt601csc=1 though, as with all ATI.

Having said that, I'd get a 3650 instead. ATI aren't too interested in fixing driver issues for older cards.

arfster

08-25-08, 05:37 PM

Can anyone confirm/deny that the dvi -> vga ati dongle also does this conversion?

It doesn't, I use it all the time.

Donnacha

08-25-08, 06:37 PM

@Donnacha: I'd suggest reinstalling PDVD, and possibly AnyDVD HD (if you're using it - if not maybe try it out (http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html)). The particular discs you mentioned have caused problems for some people (IIRC Rambo had a non-standard copyright mechanism), and they're both mentioned in AnyDVD's bugfix list. No idea why changing the drivers would break it, but that seems to be a recurring theme in this thread...

thanks - I tried reinstalling PDVD 8 = no joy. I'll give reinstalling ANYDVDHD a go now. Just can't seem to work out why it just stopped? I mean it doesn't even try all I get is the disc trying to play then "stopped"!!

chriscic

08-25-08, 11:49 PM

I haven't read this entire thread, but I can say ditto that with my 2600Pro AGP I'm getting video acceleration at 720P but not at 1080P.

thecaptain2000

08-26-08, 02:29 AM

Guys, I'm in a position to "try again" with an HD2600XT. I've already been burned once by a 2600Pro AGP. I had a sense that AGP was a big part of the problem, so now that I'm building a new HTPC (PCI-E, of course), I'm considering whether I should avoid these cards at all cost or if they are again a contender.

The UVD features are compelling. Unfortunately, all the promise of HA decoding is less than useless if such features not only don't work, but (as in my case (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14466831#post14466831)) the cards don't even function correctly with software decoding.

So, what's your experience? Are the problems a matter of "corner cases" or are serious problems a matter of course with this series?

if you read my previous post I had full success with a sapphire 2600xt agp. What bothered me was to learn that all the features are there, what you are not told is you are not given the meaning to use them. I have downloaded MPC classic, it is a free program that now has Hardware accelerated codecs for H264 and VC1. Using that I have full acceleration of WMV9 1080p and MKV 1080P files. I have even used the codec that comes with MPC for accelerating HDTV. I am using Dvbviewer and I selected that MPC codec for H264 decoding and it's performances are better than the cyberlink. I have been struggling now to get HA for direct blu-ray viweing using powerdvd8 . I am in the middle of it, but it seems like using Vista instead of XP would do the trick. It does for blu-ray and for the Wmv9 and mkv files, now I have to go back to install dvbviewer to see if that works as well.

chriscic

08-26-08, 10:59 AM

To add to my earlier comment; it's not that I can't get acceleration of 1080p files (or at least the 1080i coming out of my Hauppauge HD-PVR), it's that I can't get acceleration with a 1080p *desktop*. All acceleration works up to 1280x1024 desktop, but then breaks at 1920x1080 desktop.

I'm using XP, Visiontek 2600pro AGP, ATI version 8.7 AGP hotfix drivers. This is all through SageTV with the arcsoft codec.

I'll have to play around with some other video files to make sure, but the above seems to be the case... I lose acceleration when I go to 1080p desktop.

Also, I wonder if going to Vista would help... I don't think so though because I think the fix is with EVR, and I don't think SageTV supports EVR regardless.

arfster

08-26-08, 12:25 PM

To add to my earlier comment; it's not that I can't get acceleration of 1080p files (or at least the 1080i coming out of my Hauppauge HD-PVR), it's that I can't get acceleration with a 1080p *desktop*. All acceleration works up to 1280x1024 desktop, but then breaks at 1920x1080 desktop.

Interesting - what does dxva checker show when using a 1080p desktop?

Try these also:

VforceUVDVC1="1"
VforceUVDh264="1"

These are usually needed only with dual monitors, but I believe the overall issue is similar to yours: the cumulative resolution of the desktop space is too large for the card's settings, and thus acceleration is disabled. These bypass that, and force it back on again.

Also, and less likely to work:
VForceMaxResSize="2800000"

This is more usually needed for powerdvd bluray playback on higher res monitors, but you never know, might work.

chriscic

08-26-08, 02:51 PM

Cool; I'll like to try it. Where do I enter that text though? Into the SageTV config file? Or is there an ATI config file somewhere?

I'm not familiar with DXVA checker but I'm sure a quick google will find it.

I was only using one monitor, but when I first hooked it up there were two monitors and I was hot-swapping video cables back and forth and maybe it got confused (or maybe that's a red-herring). Well, great to have something new to try when I get home tonight.

EDIT: Ok, I see it goes into the windows registry via the ATI HD registry Tweaks program. So... close.... now.... hope it works!

arfster

08-26-08, 03:54 PM

For the right place for any reg settings, use Dxva checker. Right click as per here and it gives you tickboxes for all the relevant ones:

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/8761/clipboard01ua5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

arfster

08-26-08, 04:06 PM

Accidentally discovery: dxva_nohddecode=0 works again in restoring HD mpeg2 acceleration with dual monitors. Didn't a few driver generations ago.

That is, at least with vista32+2600 :-)

arfster

08-26-08, 04:11 PM

Oh, and the DXVA Checker author has discovered how to manually force the availability of different deinterlacing options:

http://bluesky23.hp.infoseek.co.jp/dxvac_ds_en.html

Mainly of use to integrated/2400/3400 owners I guess. Beware these have been disabled by ATI for a reason, so keep an eye on your gpu %.

arfster

08-26-08, 04:40 PM

I was only using one monitor, but when I first hooked it up there were two monitors and I was hot-swapping video cables back and forth and maybe it got confused (or maybe that's a red-herring).

Once you've plugged in two monitors, it disables HD acceleration. Even if you unplug one, it's still disabled till next reboot (or till the tweaks are used).

chriscic

08-26-08, 06:36 PM

Once you've plugged in two monitors, it disables HD acceleration. Even if you unplug one, it's still disabled till next reboot (or till the tweaks are used).

Well, that sort of makes sense, because at first I couldn't get even acceleration at 720P on my PJ (and was totally befuddled because it had been working great 2 minutes earlier on my PC 1280x1024 display), but later I rebooted with only the PJ as the monitor and 720P worked great and 1080P wouldn't. I even went back and forth several times between the desktop resolutions without rebooting (although I had to use task manager each time to close SageTV in the 1080P desktop because it would barely move). Each time 720 fine, 1080 a no go.

chriscic

08-26-08, 10:38 PM

Doh! How do I use/install DXVA checker? I downloaded it, but when I double-click on the icon it says "This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect."

I guess I need .NET 2.0, but I think I already have that installed. When I try to install again, it asks me if I want to remove/repair the prior copy.

Oh my PC misery knows no bounds...

EDIT: Ok, I see, need C++. Seems like all the instructions are in Japanese so hard to figure this out via the links.

chriscic

08-26-08, 11:34 PM

Wow, your fix worked arfster! Thanks for the help. It definitely wasn't working before at any rez. over 1400x900.

That's the good... sadly, after watching more, even at 720P there are too many little stutters in the video to use on a main TV. Guess it will suffice for the guest bedroom.

Thanks again for the help.

el Filou

08-27-08, 11:18 AM

Iam able to adjust 75Hz for my monitor with 8.8 (75Hz worked with Vista out of the box since 7.5!!!, but not with XP). I reported this bug several month ago, but the bug report was closed without doing anything.

Can anyone imagin why it is running now???
Off-topic, but are you sure your monitor really supports 75 Hz internally?
Most LCD monitors that report more than 60 Hz to the graphics card internally drop frames because the panel can only work at 60 Hz, so 75 Hz isn't of any use in most cases.
(see http://www.behardware.com/articles/641-5/1rst-lcd-at-100-hz-the-end-of-afterglow.html)

thecaptain2000

08-27-08, 02:01 PM

Hi,
I am puzzled. I can use cyberlink h264 codec with Dvbviewer and get full ha, cpu use about 5% on XP. I can have HA with Wmv, mkv files using MPC hand his H264 and VC1 HA codecs, up to 1080p, but I have no way to get any HA out of powerdvd and that kills me since now I have added a blu-ray HD-DVD drive to my HTPC. Now, since the cyberlink codec is working, at least for h264 with dvbviewer and it is never working with powerdvd, I must assume that Powerdvd does lot load it's own codec when I watch an h264 movie. So, how do I check / set what codec powerdvd is using?
Renato

arfster

08-27-08, 02:35 PM

I must assume that Powerdvd does lot load it's own codec when I watch an h264 movie. So, how do I check / set what codec powerdvd is using?
Renato

It always uses its own internal codec - you're right that this is different from the external PDVD directshow codec.

Is acceleration ticked in video options? (both before and during playback).

topcaser

08-27-08, 03:26 PM

Folks,

there is a new PDVD version available. If one tries it: Would be glad to get a review.

Edit: Ha - first on the 200st page. I have never seen such a large thread:-)

thecaptain2000

08-27-08, 04:26 PM

Folks,

there is a new PDVD version available. If one tries it: Would be glad to get a review.

Edit: Ha - first on the 200st page. I have never seen such a large thread:-)

it still seem powerdvd 8? what new version are referring to?

thecaptain2000

08-27-08, 05:04 PM

Hi,
I am trying to watch a bluy-ray movie with powerdvd 8 (or 7.3, it makes no difference). The encoding is mpeg2 and I am not getting any mpeg2 acceleration althougth according to (my understanding of) the output of DXVAChecker (attached) I should. Moreover I cannot get any acceleration with Powerdvd neither when watching any WMV file (either vc1 or h264) or .mkv. I am able to get full HA by using MPC classic for both Wmv and Mkv up to 1080p. Is there any other program for watching blu-ray and hd-dvds?
Thanks
Renato

firefoxsilver9

08-27-08, 08:28 PM

arfster

08-27-08, 10:57 PM

i have another issue. windows is reporting i have 2 monitors connected to my computer when i only have one. why is that?

Probably not unrelated to the acceleration issue. You likely need the dualmonitor acceleration tweaks, see my sig.

firefoxsilver9

08-28-08, 12:06 AM

Probably not unrelated to the acceleration issue. You likely need the dualmonitor acceleration tweaks, see my sig.
added the dualmonitor tweaks. it didn't help my problem

thecaptain2000

08-28-08, 06:18 AM

download and use WMP classic, it will give you HA with Wmv and Mkv files

thecaptain2000

08-28-08, 06:19 AM

thecaptain2000

08-28-08, 07:29 AM

that is not a reporting you have two monitors, but just that your card can support a second one. It is in fact grayed out as it is not connected
Renato

hi all. i just bought a powercolor Radeon HD 2400 Pro PCI video card for use in a HTPC (gonna use this machine as a htpc when i get an iMac) and i can't seem to get HA to work for VC1 and H.264. I have Hardware acceleration with mpeg-2 files with all resolutions, including 1080. I tried Powerdvd 8, MPC-HC's built-in codecs, but nothing. i've tried powercolor's drivers, the newest ati drivers, and the drivers included on the cd. i also tried the registry tweaks with no avail. i tried different video files to test, including those from apple's HD trailers download page and microsoft's WMV-HD trailers. I also downloaded the wmv 9 powertool and checked the CCC for WMV acceleration, but yet no HA. I had somewhat similar issues with my previous (faulty) graphics card, EVGA GeForce 6200. It would accelerate mpeg-2's but not H.264/VC1 (it crashed my system when i tried to play those.) I'm currently reading through this thread to see if i can find any help, but advice is much appreciated.

Windows XP SP2
intel 865g chipset
2gb ram
intel p4 3ghz HT

i have another issue. windows is reporting i have 2 monitors connected to my computer when i only have one. why is that?

when you have used MPC classic and it's internal codecs, have you disabled the ffmpeg ones? (and hence left selected just the dvxa(s) )

topcaser

08-28-08, 10:54 AM

it still seem powerdvd 8? what new version are referring to?

It is a new patch available - on the english site for powerdvd 8 and on the german website also for PDVD7 (with updated H.264 decoder)

firefoxsilver9

08-28-08, 11:45 AM

when you have used MPC classic and it's internal codecs, have you disabled the ffmpeg ones? (and hence left selected just the dvxa(s) )
yes. i tried different MPC builds, none worked.

arfster

08-28-08, 01:02 PM

Fiddling with different codecs won't help - as long as dxva checker shows no h264/vc1, you can't get acceleration. Your problem is something lower level with the drivers.

thecaptain2000

08-28-08, 01:20 PM

Hi,
how can I tweak the catalyst driver sing dvxachecker using vista? if I rey to modify a setting I am told I do not have access to the registry
Renato

firefoxsilver9

08-28-08, 04:01 PM

maybe its the card. before i removed my geforce 6200 i checked it with dvxa checker and it showed a bunch on entries, including vc1 and h.264 but i alwyas got bsod when trying to play them with acceleration.

thecaptain2000

08-28-08, 04:28 PM

Hi,
I have downloaded .net 3.0 and WMV Power toy starts but the button for saving settings is disabled. Does it work the same for everybody? is there something I can do? I found under vista that if, using WMV Power toy, I enable DXVA and the deinterlacer (togeter with tweaking the driver) I do get MPEG2 HA.
In vista I get it but then I guess my agp slot does not get recognized so it is used as a PCI slot with not enough bandwidth for handling blu ray
Renato

Luar Azul

08-28-08, 08:02 PM

hi all. i just bought a powercolor Radeon HD 2400 Pro PCI video card for use in a HTPC (gonna use this machine as a htpc when i get an iMac) and i can't seem to get HA to work for VC1 and H.264. I have Hardware acceleration with mpeg-2 files with all resolutions, including 1080. I tried Powerdvd 8, MPC-HC's built-in codecs, but nothing. i've tried powercolor's drivers, the newest ati drivers, and the drivers included on the cd. i also tried the registry tweaks with no avail. i tried different video files to test, including those from apple's HD trailers download page and microsoft's WMV-HD trailers. I also downloaded the wmv 9 powertool and checked the CCC for WMV acceleration, but yet no HA. I had somewhat similar issues with my previous (faulty) graphics card, EVGA GeForce 6200. It would accelerate mpeg-2's but not H.264/VC1 (it crashed my system when i tried to play those.) I'm currently reading through this thread to see if i can find any help, but advice is much appreciated.

Windows XP SP2
intel 865g chipset
2gb ram
intel p4 3ghz HT

i have another issue. windows is reporting i have 2 monitors connected to my computer when i only have one. why is that?

Hi!! I have a similar system and, as I've been reporting regarding each new drive, all drivers after 8.4 seem to have broken HA for some systems with XP and the 2400 pro (although 8.5 also works relatively well with only short stalls in some movies).

Today I've made the stupid mistake of having hope in ATI team again and I tried the 8.8 drivers! :mad: Well, same problems all over again. Corruption, stuttering, etc. Both MPC-HV and PDVD 8 codecs stopped working with HA. It's absurd how these guys from ATI can actually make something WORSE as they work on it. Anyway, back to 8.4, it works very well indeed, I don't know why I even bother trying newer versions ... I think it's just the pure amazement and astonishment at how a team of programmers can make such incredible and systematic blunders ... I see it but I still can't integrate in my nervous system! Why these stupid mistakes, why turn upgrades into downgrades?? Why? :confused:

I'm pretty confident that if you try out version 8.4 everything will work just fine with HA in MPC-HC. I use these options bellow (check the gif pictures) the most important for me is the disabling the internal filter for mkv files so that haali splitter takes control.

Also, it is definitely better to have only one monitor on when watching movies (otherwise the image may stutter).

Hope this will help! :)

firefoxsilver9

08-28-08, 11:37 PM

Hi!! I have a similar system and, as I've been reporting regarding each new drive, all drivers after 8.4 seem to have broken HA for some systems with XP and the 2400 pro (although 8.5 also works relatively well with only short stalls in some movies).

Today I've made the stupid mistake of having hope in ATI team again and I tried the 8.8 drivers! :mad: Well, same problems all over again. Corruption, stuttering, etc. Both MPC-HV and PDVD 8 codecs stopped working with HA. It's absurd how these guys from ATI can actually make something WORSE as they work on it. Anyway, back to 8.4, it works very well indeed, I don't know why I even bother trying newer versions ... I think it's just the pure amazement and astonishment at how a team of programmers can make such incredible and systematic blunders ... I see it but I still can't integrate in my nervous system! Why these stupid mistakes, why turn upgrades into downgrades?? Why? :confused:

I'm pretty confident that if you try out version 8.4 everything will work just fine with HA in MPC-HC. I use these options bellow (check the gif pictures) the most important for me is the disabling the internal filter for mkv files so that haali splitter takes control.

Also, it is definitely better to have only one monitor on when watching movies (otherwise the image may stutter).

Hope this will help! :)
thanks for the info. Tried your instructions, and it still didn't work. I'm currently using the 8.4 drivers from the cd that came with my card, after trying 8.8 and i believe 8.5 from powercolor's website. which version of MPC are you using? i'm using the latest svn from august 24th and your screenshots look different from the mpc i'm using.

thecaptain2000

08-29-08, 02:48 AM

how much memory does the video card need to have to play 1080p at a blu-ray disk bit rate? (up to 35MB per sec)

my 2600xt has 256M and I see the MPEG2 accelleration working for a while and then the image having some "stop and go" while the cpu usage goes trough the roof.
Renato

mushbert

08-30-08, 06:01 AM

The BluRay specs allow a maximum throughput of 6 megabytes (or 48Mbits) per second for audio+video. Considering that there's almost always a soundtrack the amount of video RAM shouldn't be that crucial, but that's really just a guess. :)

Luar Azul

08-30-08, 05:25 PM

thanks for the info. Tried your instructions, and it still didn't work. I'm currently using the 8.4 drivers from the cd that came with my card, after trying 8.8 and i believe 8.5 from powercolor's website. which version of MPC are you using? i'm using the latest svn from august 24th and your screenshots look different from the mpc i'm using.

Hi! Well I'm using MPC Homecinema, version 1.1.604 (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=170561), I'm also using ex-deux tweaks (but I don't think these are strictly necessary to enable HA) and you can find them here (http://exdeus.home.comcast.net/~exdeus/ati-hd2x00/) and I also use DriverCleanerPro to erase the bits and pieces left by previous installations of ATI software (after uninstalling the recent ati drivers and rebooting I run DriverCleanerPro and only then do I reinstall v8.4).

I hope this helps, HA works fine for me. I was completely unable to see 1080p videos in my low-spec system, and now I can without a glitch (both VC-1 and x264 play perfectly). The IQ is also greater than with CoreAVC (more detail). The only files that don't work are non-complying x264 files (too many reference frames).

Good luck!! :)

The Holy Gav

08-31-08, 01:41 PM

hi guys hope you can help

running an ati 2600xt, i am connecting this to my plasma and also to my planar 7010 projector, the tv plays hd dvd fine, but when trying to get playback through my projector it gives the message that it is not hdcp compliantand returns to menu screen (arcsoft tmt)?

i am running the latest ati drivers and the latest planar firmware, vista premium.

both cables are running through the dvi/hdmi dongles, i have tried this with just a single monitor set up, ie just projector, tv unplugged and second monitor disabled within ccc.

any ideas

shurik_1

08-31-08, 04:01 PM

Hello,

one important info on my previous reports on downclocking my 2600PROAGP. One thing that I've come to realize is that at either 204MHz 0.9V or 301MHZ 0.95V MPEG2 acceleration of HDcontent is killed and CPU start to struggle (mine is Athlon 3000+) I did not determine if there is a threshold though.

firefoxsilver9

08-31-08, 11:13 PM

ok i've made some progress. i've updated my drivers to the lastest 8.6 from powercolor's website and also enabled "Internal Deinterlacer" in the WMV powertoy settings and now i can get some form of dxva in WMP with 720p, but cpu usage isn't ideal (peaing at around 50-60%) and there is lots of tearing/jerkiness. no acceleration with 1080p though. i've enabled the dxva logging in the powertoys settings so that's how i found out.

nathan118

09-01-08, 01:51 AM

Just a few stats...I'm running a 2600 XT and use Vista Media Center to record OTA tv and play it back. I've used DECCHECK.EXE to set the Ati decoder as the preferred decoder, and then VMCD.EXE to set it as the decoder for Vista Media Center.

I've been using the card to deinterlace 1080i channels like NBC and CBS for a long time and the card has worked great. But a few months ago my local NBC started broadcasting in "24p", and ever since I've had a heck of a time.

I knew they changed something immediately, because I started to see interlacing lines and it was no longer deinterlacing smoothly. I would check in the catalyst control center and the GPU activity would be sitting at 2%, when in the past it would jump to 40-50% whenever it was deinterlacing. I also ran the captured file through mpeg2repair, and it is showing the framerate as 23.976 frames per second. So they're broadcasting 1080i60 and it's flagged for 24p I think (not an expert on this.)

I've updated to the 8.8 catalyst and avivo drivers, I've run through all the different deinterlacing options, and I've tried with pulldown detection on and off, but it still looks terrible. Is the problem on my end and the card can't handle the pulldown flags, or is it being broadcast incorrectly?

Any ideas? I can post a really problematic section from National Treasure for people to look at. A helicopter flies horizontally across the screen and the stutter is just terrible.

Thanks everybody!

UPDATE

The more I look into this the more I think it's my local broadcaster. Here's a 30 second test clip. If people could try playing this and report back on if they're successful or not I'd really appreciate it.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=13Y96ZGV

And also, here is what mpeg2repair is giving me on the above clip:

File Size Processed: 552.07 MB, Play Time: 00h:05m:47s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (26.69 fps Telecine), 65.00 Mbps (12.55 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 57.40 KB/Frame, 0.23 Bits/Pixel.

26.69 fps telecine? What?

jong1

09-01-08, 06:46 AM

Any ideas? I can post a really problematic section from National Treasure for people to look at. A helicopter flies horizontally across the screen and the stutter is just terrible.Interesting.

On my system MPC-HC has exactly the problem you describe but Theatertek plays fine. The only significant difference I can see is that MPC-HC is using Haali Splitter and TheaterTek is using the Nvidia TS Demuxer. They are using the same decoder (Nvidia).

Reclock reports 1920x1080p @29.970fps with TheaterTek and 1920
x1080i @29.970fps with MPC-HC.

So I'd say there is something unusual about the clip that is causing Haali (and maybe other splitters) to trip up.

arfster

09-01-08, 09:33 AM

26.69 fps telecine? What?

Guessing it's reading it as roughly half 30fps (ie interlaced), and half 24fps (telecined), thus an average of around 27fps.

jong1

09-01-08, 01:27 PM

I take it back. Haali has nothing to do with it. TheaterTek was running in software mode and others in hardware (DXVA). I can turn off hardware acceleration and things improve in MPC-HC so it is the same as TheaterTek.

It does seem like this clip causes the de-interlacer to flip in and out of film mode. When I run with the ffdshow OSD you can see the movie fps changing from 23.976 to 29.970 and back. This obviously trips up the hardware de-interlacer more than Nvidia's software one. You can still see some problems in software mode, but not the horrible stuttering and visual artifacts in hardware mode.

nathan118

09-01-08, 01:32 PM

On my system MPC-HC has exactly the problem you describe but Theatertek plays fine. The only significant difference I can see is that MPC-HC is using Haali Splitter and TheaterTek is using the Nvidia TS Demuxer. They are using the same decoder (Nvidia).

Reclock reports 1920x1080p @29.970fps with TheaterTek and 1920
x1080i @29.970fps with MPC-HC.

So I'd say there is something unusual about the clip that is causing Haali (and maybe other splitters) to trip up.

OK, tried the clip on my main XP machine using a Geforce 8800 GTS and Purevideo decoder (and nvidia transport demux). Still looks terrible. When I click on the purevideo icon under "video format" it's going back and forth betweeen anamorphic widescreen VIDEO and FILM.

The best I could come up with was using ffdshow and tomsmocomp for deinterlacing. It looked better than both the ati and nvidia cards using hardware.

Guessing it's reading it as roughly half 30fps (ie interlaced), and half 24fps (telecined), thus an average of around 27fps.

Here's from a full episode of The Office. Keep in mind that all commercials have been cut, so that's not throwing off the frame rate.

File Size Processed: 1.92 GB, Play Time: 00h:20m:42s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps (24.59 fps Telecine), 65.00 Mbps (12.49 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 61.98 KB/Frame, 0.24 Bits/Pixel.

24.59?